A Little Bit of Gillyness
by Dusklight77
Summary: A young trainer starts out on her journey through the Hoenn region with her least-favorite starter. With her dreams washed away, she decides she's going to do what it takes to get them back on track and show everyone she can be the best trainer. Set after ORAS. OC-centric.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hi everyone! This is just a little headcannon that got out of control when I was brainstorming with my boyfriend and, well, I decided to finally write something for this site. Hoenn region was always my favorite, so I hope I can do it justice. Just for timing purposes, but this is set a few decades after ORAS. Yes, the events did happen, no, I will not be rehashing them. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!**

* * *

CH 1

"Kip, kip!"

Gemma stared in confusion at the blue little… _thing_ that looked up at her before turning back to the professor.

"Take it back. What part of 'I'm more of a fire type of girl' did you not understand?"

Birch chuckled a little before replying, "well then you should have come by earlier huh? Besides, the fire type was taken and I haven't been able to find a decent treeko in a couple months. And don't even think about waiting until the next batch to get your first pick. There's not enough room."

Gemma's face fell at the anguished cry from the Professor. This semester's graduating class was tiny compared to next semester. If Birch was having trouble finding enough pokemon for just two people, no way would he be able to find enough for the twelve actually graduating on time instead of jumping the gun and graduating early. Only the very top of the class would even get the chance to pick their favorite starter, never mind someone who had that chance and passed the first time round.

She looked down at the blue mudkip smiling up at her and wiggling its little blue tail in anticipation before heaving a sigh. If she didn't get this one, then she'd be stuck with one of the pokemon on the nearby routes. If she was lucky, she could capture a decent Poochyena, but the Zigzagoon and Wurmple were much more common, especially since the uncharacteristic warmth meant a longer and more plentiful hatching season for both annoying species.

"Alright. I'll take it. But as soon as I find a torchic, I'm trading this thing away." She continued to stare at the incredibly happy blue pokemon in disgust. Not only was it a water type, but when it evolved, it would also gain a secondary ground type. To Gemma who loved all things fire, this was the ultimate sin. Besides, she wanted a pokemon that had an appropriately serious outlook on her upcoming journey, and the mudkip in front of her looked too easy going, too jolly, too _happy_ that it was about to join Gemma.

How dare it be that happy! It ruined all of her dreams of traveling the land with a fighting firebird at her side. It was the only reason she had studied so hard in school!

"Excellent!" Birch broke her out of her musings. "Now then, why don't you give this girl a name?"

Gemma turned to him, startled for a minute. Did the professor actually think that she was going to _name_ this thing when she would get rid of it the first chance she got? 'Well, I guess I should give it a name for the next person to have. It'll have to be something cool. Something appropriate as an apology for the poor sucker I foist this thing off on,' she thought. She brought her attention back to the obscene little pokemon still staring at her with a goofy smile between its orange gills. Gills. Gilly.

…

'Gilly? Really? The super cool name I come up with is _Gilly?_ No, that can't be right. This name has to be an apology to its future owner. Think, think!' But no matter how hard she tried, the name seemed to have taken a space in her skull and lodged itself there like a particularly stubborn tumor.

Gemma let out another long sigh. "Gilly. Its name is Gilly."

Birch's smile practically radiated out from him. "An excellent name for a lovely lady." Was it just her, or did he put extra emphasis on the word lady? It wasn't like it would matter all that much what gender it was, as long as she could get rid of it as soon as possible. "Now, I'm sorry to push you out of here so quickly, but I need to get back in the field and get started on capturing enough pokemon for the next graduating class. I wonder if that grovyle tribe moved a little bit more east…" And without further ado, Gemma was suddenly pushed out of the lab and found herself staring at a closed door with a final "Enjoy your journey!" still ringing in her ears.

"Mud, ki!"

Oh yeah, and that damn mudkip practically attached to her leg.

* * *

Making her way to the first town was a surprising ordeal. As she had predicted, the zigzagoon and wurmple were everywhere. She couldn't take two steps without some fresh-from-the-egg pokemon challenging her. On the bright side, the mudkip was having fun tackling its opponents into submission. It even started to anticipate attacks and try to sneak up on whatever pokemon looked to challenge us next to get in the first move and bring them down early. However, the crush of monotony claims all victims and soon it would just try to spit water at them from a distance and drive them away. It wasn't that good at it yet, but over time the baby water guns became stronger and more accurate.

The sad thing was, it took the both of them almost a full day before they made it to the first town. A town Gemma could see over the horizon when the first stepped foot on the route. Each time she thought they were making any sort of progress, yet another zigzagoon would pop up. When she wanted to take a rest, wurmples crawled from the underbrush to ambush her. And through it all, not one poochyena.

Well, maybe one. Thank goodness it happened towards the end of the trail, otherwise they might have had to return to Littleroot by sliding down the hills to get the poor mudkip some rest. It wasn't really Gemma's fault either. She was just so bored. There's only so many times you can watch a mudkip completely school low level pokemon before you just don't care anymore. So she turned to her favorite pastime: daydreaming. Mostly about completing the Gym circuit and challenging the elite four with a firebird at her side. She already had the perfect name for it: Amber. Tough, but beautiful. The color a nice golden glow as if lit from a fire within, and hiding a ferocious capability to kill, or at least incapacitate.

Her Amber would take on all of the Gyms, even the last one that held water pokemon. She'd make sure of it. They'd travel across the land, searching far and wide for all who would dare challenge them. And at the end of the day, they'd recount their victories. There may be other pokemon along the way, but Amber would be the best and her go-to for anything they might face.

So it wasn't that much of a surprise when Gemma accidentally stumbled into a small hole. Ultimately, she didn't think it was that big of a deal and prepared to continue on. The family of nesting Poochyena did not share her views. One burst from the ground, snarling and looking like he would rip the trespasser into bite sized pieces to feed to his small pups hiding in the nest. Gemma only had a moment of shocked surprise before the wolf took a running leap and latched on to her arm, biting down hard through the thin jacket and using his back paws to attempt to rip her arm to bits.

"AAAAAHHHHHH! GET OFF!" The pooch ignored her plea and continued to gnaw and scratch at her arms, attempting to get closer to her face while she flailed around in a panic, falling to the ground in her moment of distress. "HELP!" she cried out, looking for someone, anyone! Even that annoying mudkip. That's right! Where was her mudkip? It could help her out of this mess! But no matter how much she looked around, she couldn't see her mudkip anywhere.

The poochyena was at her shoulder now, trying to get into a good position to do even more damage. Gemma's attempts to push the pokemon away became even more panicked as she thought about what would happen if it got its teeth on her neck. Her position on the ground hindered her movements, and no matter what she tried, the Poochyena continued to advance up her shoulder. "Mudkip! Mudkip help!" Still no help came. The stupid thing was probably stalking small fry further away, leaving its trainer to the mercy of the wild pokemon. "Help! Mudkip, come here!" What was its name? "GILLY, _PLEASE!"_

She felt a cold snout brush up against her cheek and turned to the wild pokemon as it opened its mouth wide for a devastating crunch on her face. She could see the jaws growing wider and wider, the red eyes of the pokemon staring at her in victorious fury and she knew. This would be how she died. An embarrassing death to the jaws of a pokemon without even seeing the first town. How pathetic.

"KIP!" A blast of water, the most devastating yet, slammed into the pokemon. Gemma had enough time to see its eyes go wide with shock before it was swept away from her, leaving her soaked and covered in minor injuries, but away from the crazy pokemon. She looked to where her Mudkip stood just a few feet away and was surprised to see its black eyes locked onto its new target, for once the smile gone and a look of determination on its face.

The poochyena took a moment to shake its disorientation before turning and growling at her mudkip, warning it to back away. Mudkip, of course, just became more determined. This opponent was much stronger than the newborns it'd been practicing on and it wanted a challenge to round out the day. This wild pokemon would do just perfectly, even if he was fresh and just a little bit stronger.

The battle between the two was pretty brutal. Gemma watched as her mudkip harried the poochyenna with tackles and water guns, all the while dancing away from any attacks the wild pokemon attempted. It didn't always work, and mudkip had quite a few injuries of her own from the vicious pokemon. It didn't help that while mudkip only wanted to cause the pokemon to faint, the poochyena was going for the kill. Or maybe that was just Gemma's perspective since the crazy pooch had just recently attacked her face.

Finally, the poochyena took one last water gun to the side and fainted. Her mudkip stared at the fallen foe for a minute, waiting to see if he was faking before turning back to Gemma with a goofy, if exhausted smile. "Kip. Mud, mudkip." It almost sounded as if her mudkip was scolding her for getting into this situation. Gemma looked at her mudkip, covered in scratches and bleeding some sort of ooze. It didn't have to come save her. Goodness knows Gemma hadn't been that nice or attentive to it. Yet it had still saved her life, and deserved something for that.

"Thanks mudkip." A flash of something crossed Mudkip's face. Slightly drooping eyes, strained smile. Then it was gone and her old happy mudkip was back. It turned to continue through the last stretch of brush before the town and stumbled, just a little.

"Gilly!" The cry was drawn from her lips without thought. Immediately, Gemma wanted to take back this small gesture of familiarity, but the look on her mudkip's face was too hopeful. She couldn't break its heart by taking it back now. She cleared her throat before continuing. "Be careful. You're in no shape to protect me from rogue poochyena, and I will _not_ be the loser that died on the road between Littleroot and Oldale." Still her mudkip looked up at her with hope and joy.

Dumb thing.

They walked forward together, so close to safety. The night would provide a bit of a reprieve from the zigzagoon and wurmple, but evening was when poochyena were most active. Gemma picked up the pace a little, mudkip shuffling closely behind. Neither wanted to have another run in with the aggressive pokemon.

A few minutes later, Gemma looked down, expecting to see the mudkip dogging her steps. Just to make sure its injuries weren't too severe. Instead, she had a brief moment of terror when she realized that she was once again alone and without protection. Whirling around, Gemma frantically looked for her single pokemon, the only protection she could have in this surprisingly dangerous area. Her eyes narrowed when she saw the mudkip behind her, smiling its annoying little smile.

"What," Gemma growled as she stalked back the not insignificant distance. "You think it's funny to leave your trainer all alone, huh? You-" The Mudkip stumbled again just as she reached it, letting out the smallest of whimpers as one of its cuts was bumped. All the anger drained out of her, making her feel cold and vile. Of course the little idiot would be slow. It had just sustained heavy injuries in a fight for its life after a full day of exercise and battling.

Gemma stared down at the Mudkip for a minute, then stooped down and picked it up. No use in tiring out her only protection. And her mudkip could still snipe enemies away with a well-placed water gun or two. Besides, it was only a few more feet before the gates of the town, and it was getting dark out. No one who mattered would see her somewhat _caring_ for the little thing, even if it was only by necessity.

Unfortunately, mudkip took this gesture to mean Gemma was finally accepting the little beast into her journey and would not stop wiggling about in her arms. Eventually, it calmed down and rested its head on Gemma's shoulder, exhausted from the ordeal before.

And that is how the two entered Oldale; tired, scratched up, but together.

* * *

The first order of business was to get to a pokecenter. There they offered free rooms if there was space and at least one meal, two if you were lucky. All she needed to do was show them her trainer badge and they would let her stay for a maximum of 6 nights before needing to move on. Oh, and they could patch up mudkip to be almost good as new.

It was dark when they finally made it to the center (who knew it would be so hard to find in such a small town?) and there was only a chancy behind the desk. She looked up as the doors to the center opened, and immediately noticed their blood-stained clothes. "Chancy!" She yelled out, pushing a button on the counter before it bustled over to the two of them. The chancy tried to take away mudkip from Gemma, but she was still a little wary of lone pokemon after her last encounter and refused to willingly give the healer her mudkip. Honestly, panicked would be a better description than wary.

"I don't care, I'm looking for a Nurse Joy!" Gemma shouted at the chancy. "You're not taking her away from me, OK? I want to get my mudkip to a real nurse who will be able to take care of her." OK, so not her best idea to yell at the healer, but honestly, anyone would be high strung after the day she'd had.

The chancy puffed up and was about to start shouting at the two of them when a gentle voice stopped her. "Actually, the chancy are the real pokemon healers. We're just here to provide a friendly face and fix minor human injuries. And direct the chancy when there's a serious pokemon injury that they can't immediately fix." A woman with pink hair in two messy loops walked in from the side room, stifling a yawn. "I'm Nurse Joy. How may…I… Oh my gosh! What happened to you two?!"

Gemma looked down at herself, noticing the bite and scratch marks on both her and her pokemon and realized what a sight they must be. Her shorts were ripped and stained from where she had fallen earlier. Her legs weren't too bad, but there were deep wounds on her arms and shoulder still weeping blood. The light jacket she'd chosen to ward off the wind was tattered and ruined, having given up its usability in an effort to protect her arms. Mudkip's wounds had continued to ooze, staining her once red shirt to a dark purple. Her entire wardrobe for the day was ruined.

"Oh, we ran into a wild poochyena on the route up here. I think it was protecting its nest. Before it attacked, I may have stumbled into the opening without realizing." Gemma gingerly handed over her mudkip to the chancy, who looked a little more understanding at her previous reluctance upon hearing that they'd already had a bad run in with a lone pokemon.

The chancy whisked Mudkip away to be tended to, leaving Gemma alone with the nurse, who promptly dragged her away into the back to be checked over. Nurse Joy dithered over the injuries before forcibly injecting a rabies shot into her arm. "Normally trainers don't need one, but then again, we rarely ever have serious bite injuries, let alone crunch injuries. You're lucky your jacket was in the way or you'd have lost the arm. Normally it's the pokemon that get so injured. Why didn't your mudkip keep it away? Or did your injuries happen after your mudkip fainted?"

"Ah, no. It was off stalking other pokemon and trying to make a game out of it. We left Littleroot this morning and spent all day wading through the newly hatched zigzagoon and wurmple. The crazy pokemon had me pretty much by the throat before Mudk- Gilly stepped in with that water gun and pushed it away." She quickly changed how she called mudkip at the nurse's sharp stare.

"Oh, _you're_ one of the new trainers I was told to watch for. I have something for you when we get you all fixed up. Oh stop squirming; the bandages need to be tight to prevent future bleeding. You can take them off in a day or two. Where were you attacked? In cases such as this, we usually remove the aggressive species from the first route at least since there's not a lot of trainer supervision. And poochyena bites aren't normally this deep. I think we might have let this one grow too much, they don't normally learn crunch until well after they evolve. I think I know which one it was too. The professor should have removed that one once it started really attacking him and not just playfully nipping."

Gemma took a moment to nod, thinking back through the babble to answer the question. "It was just before the gates. It's just my luck that I get stuck with my least favorite starter and get attacked by a strangely overpowered poochyena on the same day." Nurse Joy slowed in her bandaging, a strange look on her face.

"You don't want your starter?" Gemma shook her head and explained her dream of traveling with a torchic. "Well, I'm not one to tell you what to do, but it seems to me like a mudkip was exactly what you needed there. A torchic would have burned you badly, and treeko are usually standoffish with their trainer at first and may not have helped you. Most of the other pokemon on the route wouldn't have been strong enough to help, but your mudkip – Gilly, you said? was able to not only separate you two, but fight down a very overpowered pokemon, sustaining pretty heavy injuries in the process. So try not to take it out on your pokemon that she's not exactly what you wanted. And who knows maybe you'll find dreams don't hold a candle to reality."

Gemma was stunned for a minute at the impromptu speech. It's true, a torchic probably would have set the pooch on fire, but then she would've had to deal with a _flaming_ poochyena that was intent on killing her instead of just a normal one. And the water gun came in the nick of time to save her from becoming puppy chow. An absorb or ember wouldn't have been able to force them apart. It still wasn't enough to stop her from wanting a torchic to travel with, but maybe it would be ok to help her new companion before getting one. After all, a stronger pokemon would mean a better trade for that perfect fighting firebird Amber, right? Right.

"Fantastic!" Ah, she must have said that out loud. "Now, you're just about done, and then you can head up to one of the rooms here. Your Gilly will be right as rain tomorrow, and I need to let Officer Jenny know that we need a pokemon removal squad." Gemma was ushered out to the lobby and pointed to the stairs where she could find a room.

Gemma trudged up the stairs, feeling every moment of this terrible day. Maybe tomorrow would be better. Maybe today was just a stress dream bringing up the worst possible scenarios. She barely registered walking into a room and collapsing on the bed, losing herself in blissful sleep.

* * *

 **A/N So there's the first chapter. I hope you liked it, and if you think that Gemma is too harsh and annoying, keep in there. This is a very character-driven plot and she will grow as a person, as will Gilly and any other pokemon that joins Gemma's party.**

 **Speaking of plot, I have the main skeleton of this story planned out from chapter one to the end. That being said, it is just a skeleton at this point and if you have any headcannons or cool ideas, please send them my way. I'd love to scream along with you about my characters and flesh them out more. If an idea or headcannon catches my fancy, I might even write a short one-shot about it.**

 **This story will update monthly, so expect the next update next month.**

 **Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

"Kip Kip!"

Gemma looked down at the little blue monster from her nice warm bed. Blinked. Rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

It let out a frustrated cry and hopped onto her bed, eventually settling in the small of her back with a contented sigh. 'Well, it seemed like yesterday actually happened,' Gemma thought. Not that the ache in her arms would let her forget that fact, it just wasn't something that she really wanted to remember.

With a groan, Gemma levered herself up off the bed. Her once white, now rust-colored bed. Because she was an idiot and forgot to change from blood stained tatters into proper clothes. She hoped that Nurse Joy would be able to fix that, she wasn't sure if she had enough money to be able to cover the cost of the sheets from what she'd saved up through her schooling.

In sitting up, she dislodged the mudkip onto the bed. The abrupt move didn't seem to dampen its spirits though, and it quickly scuttled under her arms to look up at her. Gemma stared back at it, noticing that it was completely fine. Her eyes tracked to her arms which were still bandaged up and back to the perfectly healthy mudkip. Anger sparked deep in her gut. It just wasn't fair that she would be so hurt and have to put up with the bandages for a few days while the mudkip just needed a touchup. And how could it still be so happy!? Didn't it know that she hated it for ruining her perfect adventure?

With a growl, Gemma shoved the mudkip off her bed and watched as it turned what was obviously a sign of hatred into a game and started rolling on the floor like a super bouncy ball. After watching it bounce off the walls and furniture a few times, she shook her head and got dressed into new clothes, throwing the old ones in the trash. She stood in front of the mirror for a bit to make sure that her bandages hadn't come loose during the night, but beat a hasty retreat from the room after she was run into a few times, leaving the happy mudkip behind. Hopefully it would get the hint and leave her alone.

Gemma made her way down to the lobby, snagging a plate of pancakes on her way to the chairs.

"Oh there you are!"

Gemma groaned and thought about ignoring the Nurse's call and getting to her breakfast, but decided against it at the last moment. It might be easier to get off the hook for the ruined bed sheets if she actually acted nice. Besides, she needed to get some extra bandages for the next few days.

"I'm glad to see that your Gilly was able to find you alright last night." Gemma was confused for a minute. How could she have possibly _seen_ that? She knew that the mudkip was still making a fool of itself upstairs, far away from her. Or, she thought that until a weight settled against her shin, making her look down to see said fool at her feet looking up at her. It must have followed her down once it realized it was no longer bumping into her. She tuned back into what the Nurse Joy was saying. "It took Chancy multiple heal pulses to take care of all her injuries, but as you can see, she's just fine now. It was so late when we finished healing her that we didn't want to wake you, and since you were the only one staying here last night, I thought it might be safe to just let her find you, but…well…I still worry."

"Also, I forgot to give this to you last night. Here's your pokedex." Gemma was handed a red console-like machine. "Normally, Professor Birch gives these out, but he's becoming more and more scattered as of late, so we were given a load of extras to hand out to all the new trainers that inevitably stop here. All you need to do is input your information and you'll officially be on your way."

Gemma stared down at her pokedex. It was lucky that the center knew she was coming, the 'dex was what contained an electronic trainer card. It would allow her to upload her data into the cloud so she could access it from anywhere and easily replace her card if it became damaged or lost. It was the main reason why so many kids graduated from school, otherwise they would be 'dex-less and have to constantly pay to update and replace their trainer cards. And with how frazzled she was last night, it was entirely possible that she had lost her card. That, or thrown it away with her ruined jacket upstairs.

"Thanks." Gemma began to put in her trainer info, and was surprised at just how much data they wanted from her. Name, password, birthday, start date of journey, party Pokemon, trainer classification (Gym circuit hopeful of course), home-town, specification (fighting, fire, duh), cash on hand, job, and...catchphrase?

The next hour was spent in a blur of buttons and scrolling as the pokedex wanted more information than she thought was necessary. But if she wanted to do this thing right, she needed to be as thorough as possible. Besides, she only had to do this once, and then it would just be touch ups. Even a replacement pokedex would just need a quick profile download and it would have all the information auto-populated.

By the time she checked the last box, her breakfast had gone cold and she was really ready to start her journey. She choked down the soggy pancakes and brought the empty plate to the Nurse Joy at the front desk, fully intending to talk about the sheets and get some extra bandages.

"So…uh, can I –"

"Of course you can take some food for your Gilly!"

The interruption caught Gemma off guard and she couldn't help the slight sneer as she looked down at the mudkip still following her. Then again, she was never one to pass up free food, especially when she didn't want to pay for it in the first place. And the little monster would need the energy if she wanted it to grow stronger and get a better deal in a trade.

"Oh, uh, sure" She accepted the food from the overly friendly nurse. "Also, I don't know how it happened, but the sheets on the bed I used may have some blood and mud stains. Not my fault. You'll be able to deal with it right?"

"No worries," the Nurse assured her. "Since we also double as the hospital/clinic for Oldale, we have extra-strength bleach we can use. How do you think the sheets were so white in the first place?"

Ok, she did _not_ want to think about the fact that she might have been sleeping on repurposed sheets. But, as long as she didn't have to pay, she'd get over it. "Cool. Also, can I have another set of bandages for the road? I know I need to keep my wounds clean, but if I can, I'd rather head out now instead of waiting here another day."

The Nurse ducked back down behind the counter for a minute before emerging with a sealed pack of bandages for her. She thanked the Nurse, then beat a hasty retreat after only the minimal amount of goodbyes. Her first steps out of the center were glorious. Finally, she was ready. Her pokedex was all filled out making her an official trainer, her pokemon was rested, and she had slipped out of any obligations from accidentally bloodying the bed.

"Hey, you! Are you the one who was attached by the poochyena last night?" an Officer Jenny called out.

NO! This was supposed to be her chance at freedom! A fresh start to the day so she could get closer to Amber! Then again, if she ran away from the officer, she might have bigger problems than a delayed start. Namely, how to get out of a jail cell.

"Mu?" Speaking of annoying problems, mudkip had followed her out of the center.

"We need more information on where you were attacked last night. We weren't able to find such a strong rogue poochyena, and if there is one around, we can't just let it go." The officer explained.

"Wait, why can't the Rangers take care of it?" Gemma asked.

"Because no one _needs_ the Rangers on Route 101. It's a chance for new trainers to figure out what it's like on their journey with the safety of a town always in the distance. Besides, most people leave with a group that helps to prevent problems." Jenny pointed out. "If there's a strong Pokemon out there, we need to get it fast, and if there's not, there's no need to bother the Rangers. But we need _you_ to come and show us."

"Wait…you want us to go back to find the pokemon that almost killed us!? No way." Mudkip shook its head in agreement. "We almost died in there! Besides, isn't it _your_ job to find it and move it?" A resolute nod. "And what do you mean 'if there's not?!' Do I look like I got chewed on by a puny wurmple?" Pointed stare.

"Look, if you'd given us more to go on than 'It was by the gates', then maybe we wouldn't need you. But you didn't and we do." Jenny replied. "Besides, we want to make sure we relocate it to the right route. From your description, we were thinking one of the middle routes, but you wouldn't be the first trainer to get in over your head. And if this poochyena is as strong as you say, wouldn't you want someone to take care of it before someone else came along and didn't have your luck?"

"Luck!?" She squawked. "You think what we went through was _lucky!?_ That thing nearly bit my face off! We almost _died_! And you think that was – "

"Lucky? Yes. Almost and nearly are not absolutes. As it is, you got a story, you learned a lesson. Someone else may not have that chance."

Gemma was still fuming, but the fact was, if the situation were reversed, she'd want someone to take care of the ferocious pokemon before she had had a run in with it. She looked down at mudkip and tried a last ditch effort to get out of it. "Well, what do you think? That poochyena was really strong yesterday and you just barely held your own."

Unfortunately, mudkip just looked up at her with a smile and nodded. Of course it wanted to go back into the Forest of Death. It clearly had no self-preservation.

"You don't have to worry about protection," Officer Jenny said. "We have a fully trained team of pokemon and professionals going in to remove this 'dangerous' beast." Gemma looked to where the officer was pointing and saw three other people as well as a growlithe, vileplume, and marill. Well, she guessed that together they made up a 'full team' of six.

With mudkip's acceptance and her own conscience screaming at her, there was really no way to politely refuse. "Alright. It wasn't quite so close to the gates, we have to go back to the brush." She moved forward, leading the police force back to the route.

They didn't have to go very far. Even with the time that had passed and the warm season, the previous day's battleground was significantly more waterlogged than the surrounding dirt, turning the entire area into mud. As soon as mudkip saw it, it squealed in delight and made a mad leap into the mud. Gemma couldn't believe that her temporary companion could find so much happiness in mud of all things.

"Alright team, split up." Jenny commanded. "I'd like to find this pokemon and remove it sometime today. The sooner we look for it, the sooner we can leave."

"But I can leave right?" Gemma asked. "I mean, you now know everything that I know, and you should be able to find it from here."

"I'm sorry, but if we can't find it, we may need you to stick around for more questioning. And no, you can't help us find it. If you were so grievously injured when you first encountered it, you probably won't be much help this time round."

Well that sucked. Gemma grumbled her displeasure and went to sit on a rock. Well at least mudkip was having fun playing in the mud. By now, it had completely submerged itself in the stuff, turning its once aquamarine skin into patchy grey. She had to admit, the look did not suit it at all. As much as she hated blue, at least it had the potential to be bright and vibrant. She couldn't wait to continue on her journey and start to make mudkip into a real force to be reckoned with, shining in all its victorious glory at the end of a hard fought battle.

….

So she could show it off and get a better deal for a torchic or even combuskin later! Yeah. She didn't care about how strong the little idiot became. Well, she did a little; after all she couldn't bear to be associated with a weakling. And it did save her before, and this was just the first route! It would have to become stronger in order to protect her in the future. So yes, she would be proud to train it until she could foist it off onto someone else.

With that settled, she turned back to her pokemon, still moving about in the mud. Although, now that she looked closer, it was less frolicking and more moving with a purpose. Eh, she'd let it play for now, work would come later. Besides, she really couldn't do anything until this whole poochyena business was dealt with.

She continued to stare blankly at her pokemon. It seemed to be having the time of its life with how much it splashed around. It must have been practicing a baby mud slap with how much mud was being thrown everywhere. At least something good would come of it. And wow, those mud slaps were pretty large.

After one particularly big spattering of mud, mudkip began to move back towards her. Though, at this point, it looked less like a mudkip and more like a big grey blob. For once the cloudy look in its red eyes was replaced by determination as it sped towards her, probably for another impromptu hug or something. Yup, there it went, leaping into the air right for her, on its way to muddy up her clothes aga-

"YENNNAAAAA!"

Without even realizing it, her bandaged arms snapped up in front of her face as her mudk- no, an angry poochyena – latched onto her, making her a chew toy for the second day in a row.

"AAAHHH! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO MEEEEE?!" Her screams of agony drew the attention of the group of officers that was doing an excellent job of protecting her. Really. Just stupendous.

Whelp, there went her trust in the police force.

The growlithe was the first to react, sending out an ember to the limpet to try and scare it off. Of course, with the mud coating its fur and how quickly she was flailing it in the air, the fire never really had a chance to catch. Her bandages and clothes however, were great tinder.

With a whine, the growlithe stepped back, allowing the vileplume to send out vines to wrap around the poochyena's snout before carefully detaching it from her arm and raising it high up in the air. She had just taken a breath of relief when another ball flew out of the mud pit, aiming straight for the captive pokemon. Another pair of vines shot out to catch it before it could reach its target, but it continued to struggle and writhe in its leafy prison, removing some of the mud in the process and revealing blue skin beneath.

The mudkip kept trying to attack the poochyena with a combination of water guns and long range mud slaps using the mud from its own body, but the vileplume turned it around so it couldn't get an easy shot and just left it hanging there.

"Well, that's just bad luck," Officer Jenny came up beside her to help her off of the rock she had claimed earlier. "It's a good thing you already have your rabies shot from yesterday. Did you happen to get more bandages while you were at the center? You might need to change them after this is done." Gemma just stared at the officer in bafflement. She had just been attacked by the same pokemon _twice_ in less than 24 hours and she was making _jokes?_ She wouldn't even _be_ here if they had just done their job!

"Now, let's see what we have here." Jenny walked up to the squirming poochyena, pulling out a strange two-pronged device with a screen, and waved it across the captive pokemon. When it let out a beep, she looked at the screen and did a double-take, scanning the poochyena again. It let out another beep and Jenny just stared at the screen for a while. Suddenly, she whirled around and scanned mudkip.

"Hey!" Gemma squawked, "What are you doing to my mudkip!"

"Scanning approximate levels and move sets to see just how someone as green as you and your mudkip could defeat this poochyena. He's just about ready to evolve, you can tell by how aggressive he is, like he's desperate to get that last challenge before he proves himself worthy. You left for your journey yesterday? And fought him last night?" The scanner beeped, showing the results of the scan. "Still a huge power difference, but not as large a one as I was expecting. What, did you train all day yesterday?"

Gemma mumbled that they kept getting ambushed by newly hatched wurmple and zigzagoon all day. Nothing too hard to beat, but when you do it all day, anyone would have gotten stronger.

"That's probably what let your mudkip defeat him last night. If she hadn't been training herself yesterday, you might have been the last victory he needed to evolve. You really are lucky."

Gemma went white as a sheet upon hearing that she almost had to face a fully evolved pokemon on her first day. Most thought that poochyena were minor annoyances, but mightyena were a different story. They traveled in packs and were very effective at bringing down their prey. She would take a shin-high annoyance over a hip high one any day; especially since the mightyena would have probably been able to bite right through her arm instead of just injuring it. Yeah, she had been complaining about almost dying all day, but she never realized just how close she had come.

And all because of her mudkip.

She looked at her mudkip, still struggling to get to the poochyena and decided that she would train the little beast up to be as strong as possible. Not just to get a better trade in the long run, but also to protect herself on her journey. "Mudkip, stop." The mudkip ignored her and kept struggling. "mudkip!"

A chuckle from behind her stopped her attempts to calm down her Pokemon. "You should try calling her by her name." A nameless officer said. "You did give her a name right? Most do."

Gemma ignored him and called out again. "Mudkip! Calm down." But the mudkip was so intent on getting free that it didn't hear her.

She glanced back to the officer before looking back at the struggling pokemon. "Gilly." The effect was immediate. Mudkip stopped its struggles and whirled towards her, or, attempted to. Its face was filled with joy for a second before it once again began to wiggle, this time in an attempt to get closer to her.

The officer came up beside her, once again chuckling. "See, you just have to treat them like partners. Daisy, why don't you let Gilly down? She looks like she wants to return to her trainer."

Daisy the vileplume slowly lowered the squirming mudkip to the ground and released it. Instantly, it took off towards Gemma and made a running leap at her. She stepped to the side at the last minute, letting it sail past her. Unfortunately, it must have been part boomerang as it quickly pivoted and jumped on her back, wiggling around until it draped over her shoulder, looking entirely too pleased with itself.

"Wow, your Gilly must really like you." The officer was wide-eyed as he looked that the pair of them. "It took forever to get my Daisy to chill out on my shoulder. 'Course, then she got it right before she evolved into a gloom. Phewie, it was a shame I had to un-train her of that. But I couldn't go around with gloom spores in my clothes, you know?" He was obviously trying to start up a conversation to pass the time.

Gemma just wanted to move on. "Can I go now?"

He looked at her with a bit of frustration at her stonewalling him. Even Daisy was frowning with disapproval. He rummaged around in his pockets before shoving a fistful of poke in her hand. "Here. This is your compensation for helping us identify and remove a dangerous pokemon. Since you weren't lying or incompetent and we have him in custody, you can leave and go on your way. I'm sure you have somewhere much more important you need to be." With that, he stalked back to his companions.

Daisy followed him, brushing against her hip as she passed. When she made contact, a burst of spores launched into Gemma's face, filling her nose and throat, causing her to cough and sputter. A quick glance at the officers showed that she would get no help from them. She left the group behind her and made her way back through the route to Oldale, hacking and searching for some kind of water that might allow her relief. By the time she made it to a water fountain, she had managed to remove most of the spores from her airways and she was breathing normally again. Lucky they were just regular Vileplume spores instead of the poison or sleep variety, so the only lasting damage she had was an itchy throat.

The entire time she was splashing water on her face, Mudkip was looking up at her in concern, having taken a place on the water fountain. Luckily, it decided that a water gun to the face wasn't a good idea and spared her from a jet of water. She stared back at it before picking it up off the water fountain and dropping it on the ground. It was time to move on.

* * *

Their first steps onto Route 102 were amazing. Gemma took a moment to look around her. In the distance, all she could see were trees and tufts of tall grass peeking out of the fair road. She couldn't see the town ahead of her, but she knew that it was just under a week's journey ahead. It was so much more wild and freeing than Route 101, which had two towns always looming in the distance.

A glance up revealed a flock of tailow flying far above her. She could hear the cries of the nearby pokemon as they repositioned themselves after a breeze rustled the trees and grass around her. Her eyes fell closed as she took in a deep breath, smelling the earth and the water from the pond nearby.

This. This was what her journey was supposed to be like. This would be her real first day as a pokemon trainer. Yesterday didn't count; she hadn't even had her pokedex yet! Besides, yesterday didn't work out so well for her anyway, so this would be her official first day. She'd already wasted so much time on the pokedex at the center, and then the poochyena debacle, she couldn't wait to get started and really revel in her first day.

"Mud!"

Splash!

Gemma slowly turned towards the pond, hoping against hope that she _didn't_ just hear the sound of a mudkip hitting the water. Her eyes opened, revealing a happy mudkip playing, yes, _playing_ in the nearby pond. She stalked over with a growl. They were supposed to be getting a move on! She couldn't have Mudkip wasting away the few hours of daylight they had left on frivolous fun!

"Mudkip! Get back here!" she called out. But the mudkip just kept paddling around the water. "Mudkip! So help me, if you don't get back right now, I'll leave you here!" It was an empty threat and she knew it. No way was she leaving without at least one other pokemon to protect her on her journey. If yesterday had taught her anything, it was that she needed a pokemon. How naïve she had been thinking that she'd be able to catch one on her own without help.

"Mudkip! Stop it! We have to get moving!" Still, it continued to splash and dive, calling out in happiness and generally enjoying life. Gemma continued to yell at it, but after ten minutes, had run out of different ways to call the pokemon out of the water. Collapsing on the side bank, she resigned herself to another lost day and watched the mudkip go about its play.

Most of the water pokemon inhabiting the pond had cleared out from around the squealing mudkip, schooling deeper in the water or hiding in the murky shallows near the banks. The few that didn't get out of the way fast enough were caught up in a sort of huddle as Mudkip swam around them, keeping them mostly trapped and occasionally adding a new unfortunate member to the group when a curious pokemon got too close. Sometimes, one of the group would make a break for it, but more often than not, Mudkip would corral it back into place with a fierce look on its face before reverting back to cheerful giddiness when they had been returned.

Really, Gemma was surprised that the group hadn't ganged up on Mudkip and attacked yet in the hour or two it had kept them trapped.

From out of the weeds, a red blur shot out at Mudkip and latched on its top fin in a vice-like grip. Mudkip stopped its frolicking with a cry of pain, and this seemed to be a sign for the trapped group to scatter. Some of the goldeen scratched it with their horns as they swam by, and a few of the corphish joined their companion in clamping onto Mudkip. Most of the rest deemed retaliation too much of a hassle and just fled.

In pain and uncomfortable with small scratches and corphish twice its size hanging off of it, Mudkip turned back towards Gemma with a small pitiful cry. Gemma just looked at it and burst out laughing. Will all the corphish hanging off of it, Mudkip looked more like a starmie with the red and blue colors switched. In a huff, the mudkip started swimming toward shore, quite a feat with the sheer weight of having so many pokemon attached to it.

As Mudkip got closer to shore and the relative safety of its trainer, most of the corphish felt that their annoyance had been made clear and let go, leaving for their own lives. Only one corphish stayed attached to Mudkip all the way until it left the pond. When it let go, it didn't return to the water until Mudkip stopped looking longingly over its shoulder and slunk back to Gemma.

Gemma stifled her giggles at Mudkip's predicament and dug around in her bag for a potion or other medicine. She really should organize her bag somehow; she could hardly find what she needed even if she didn't own a whole lot of stuff. In fact, all she could see were the bandages that were given to her. She looked down at Mudkip, wincing as she came to the realization that she had no way to heal it. She bent down to look closer at the damage the corphish had done, bandages in hand. If the damage was too bad, she would just have to bring it back to the pokemon center.

Looking at the small pokemon, she breathed a sigh of relief. The most damage had been done by the scratches left by passing goldeen. The corphish had left a few marks, but it seemed like they were just trying to get it to leave them alone and not harm the little thing. Besides, she supposed that this mudkip could still be considered a baby by the surrounding pokemon, not something that's an actual threat.

Gemma wrapped the few scratches with the bandages before shrugging and using the rest of it to re-wrap her own arms. Through the entire process, Mudkip waited patiently for her to finish with nary a wiggle. When their medical needs had been tended to, Gemma turned back to the route, wanting nothing more than to dive into the wilderness.

She turned back to Oldale. It didn't have much, but there should be some stores she needed to make her journey safe. If she didn't have the right equipment, even the patrolling Rangers wouldn't have enough supplies to help them throughout their journey.

They re-entered Oldale as the sky was turning orange with sunset and Gemma decided to focus on clothing and camping equipment. The pokemart would stay open 24/7, but the same could not be said for all the other shops. With only an hour or two left to shop, she looked for the essentials; water bottles, water purifier, matches, flashlight, sleeping bag, rope. She was just about to check out when she realized she was being dumb. Mudkip was an endless supply of water! She put the pack of water bottles and purifier back and got a water bottle with a clip that Mudkip could refill on demand.

Looking at the price of what she was getting, she was happy that she had received some money for removing the poochyena. It wasn't much, certainly not enough to make a living on, but the extra cash would let her buy these essentials with enough left over for a few supplies for her pokemon. Still, even with the reward, they would have to live off the land. She was suddenly very thankful the nurse had shoved that pack of food on her.

The pokemart smelled sterile in the evening air when she walked in. She took her time shopping around the store, practically drooling over the max revives and PP ups that were on display. Oh how wonderful that would be on a hydro pump or a blaze kick! She shook her head, dislodging the dreams. That would be later, when she actually had money to spend.

Instead, she turned to the potions and antidotes. Luckily they were cheap enough that she didn't feel bad spending money on it. Rations and bandages also made their way into the basket as well as alcohol wipes in case of any more injuries.

When she finally finished with her shopping, the sky had turned a deep purple color, showing the stars and moon shining overhead. Still, she would be damned if she didn't get on the route on her first day of her journey.

She marched over to the entrance of Route 102, Mudkip following along in her footsteps. Before she could actually get on the route proper, she was stopped by a Ranger lounging at a booth by the entrance.

"He-hey!" they called out. "What'cha doin' going onto the Route at night?" A woman with dark brown hair and darker eyes jogged up to Gemma. "Normally trainers stay _in_ town for the night. Wait, have you already used up your days at the pokecenter? Because if you have, you can crash in the guard office until morning."

Gemma was a little taken aback at the overly friendly gesture. "N-no, I'm just starting my journey and want to get on my way," she stuttered.

The Ranger chuckled. "Well far be it for me to stop a determined trainer. It's just that we try to discourage people from going onto the Routes after dusk."

"So you're going to keep me here!? And how do you stop the trainers already on the Route? I thought it took more than a day to get from one town to another."

"What? Oh, heavens no! The local pokemon haven't gotten used to you or your pokemon yet, and many try to make an easy meal if they haven't learned that you're dangerous in your own right." The Ranger explained. "We can't really stop you if you want to go unless there's something dangerous out there, but unless you're trying for the nocturnal pokemon, it's usually better if you go in during the day."

"So…let me get this straight. You _don't_ want me going in, but you'll let me if I want to anyway? How does that work?"

"Well, you _are_ a trainer and technically in charge of your own journey. But take it from someone who's gone through it before, it's better to get a fresh start in the morning. It helps settle down you and your Pokemon as well as lets the natives get used to you throughout the day. Besides, we really don't wanna have to come save you from the pokemon you stirred up."

Gemma thought about what she should do. She wanted to get started on her journey, but the Rangers were like the friendly patrollers of the routes. If she went in against their wishes and they had to save her, they might not be so friendly next time. Not only that, but the Rangers were a well-established and constant part of a trainer's journey, offering protection and income in exchange for various jobs. All of them had gone on their own journey, proven their worth, knew the tricks.

But still.

She wanted to _go!_ Live like a trainer on the rough forest ground, protect her food and campsite from the wild pokemon, and win any battles that came her way with a beautiful tor – well, a mudkip at her side.

"I don't really want to go back. The nurse is a little…overbearing." Gemma explained.

"Oh, yeah. She gets that way when not enough pokemon or people come through the center. This is a quiet town, not many travelers stay. People call me Cara by the way. Cara Mel. "

Gemma looked at Cara's light brown hand. "It… suits you. I'm Gemma." She took Cara's hand.

"Well Gemma, won't you be a 'gem' and stay in the office for the night?" Gemma internally groaned. Sweet Celebi, she was a pun-lover! "I'll even keep you company. I just have to face the window to catch any more wayward trainers, but I doubt anyone is really heading this way. Like I said, sleepy town."

That was a thought. It would delay her journey for another day, but getting free access to a ranger and all the tips they could tell was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Besides, she really didn't want to get on the bad side of the Rangers.

"OK."

"Great! Truth be told, I've been a little bored the past week since they stationed me alone here. No one really comes this way, and the only requirement for those that do is to have one pokemon. Not even any badges! Just a single pokemon. Ah, here we are. Sable! I'm back!"

Gemma was ushered through the door of the small guard house, brows furrowed in confusion. Hadn't the Ranger just said she was stationed alone?

"Bellll…" A voice hissed out of the darkness.

A chill ran down Gemma's spine. The shadows seemed to elongate as the door closed with a sharp crack. She could hear her heart hammering in her ears, drowning out everything but a sinister chuckle from the corner behind her. Almost tripping over her mudkip in her haste, she whirled around at the corner. From the darkness, two pinpricks of light shone out at her, staring her down. As she watched, a razor thin curve slowly grew beneath them, seeming to grow in proportion to her fear. Needle thin lines formed in the harsh white smile as it grew and grew, revealing more and more sharp teeth every second. A deep red glow faded into view in the void below the sinister smile, growing and spreading like the blood from a gaping wound.

A sigh burst out from beside her, and Gemma flinched when Cara spoke. "I really didn't want to have to do this, but honestly, it's your own dang fault. Don't you trust me?"

A rattling sound filled the air and it took a second to realize that it was coming from her bag. She was shaking so hard, the items she had just purchased were knocking into each other.

"That's it, no more peridots for a week. Now knock it off, you're scaring our guest. I know her name is Gemma, but you aren't allowed to eat her."

The atmosphere lost its heavy oppressiveness in an instant, the light returning to the corner. At the same time, the smile dropped open in shock as the two lights swung to Cara.

"Sable, sableye!" a purple gremlin about shin high dropped from its place on the corner wall, opening its arms as it pleaded with Cara. 'She must be its trainer' the thought filtered through her shock and lingering terror.

"Nope, not gonna happen. The first company since I was stationed here and you go and scare her? What if she decides to leave now huh?" Cara was resolutely ignoring the thing as it fell on its knees before her, tugging on her leggings with a heartbreaking expression.

Gemma would have felt more sympathy if it hadn't just frozen her heart with fear.

"Nuh uh, you get guard duty on the roof tonight. Don't bother Perch either, he's still sleeping." With a whine, the sableye slunk away, fading through the glass in the window on its way to its station.

Cara turned back to Gemma. "Sorry about her, she is a little over-protective of me. She won't bother you anymore. C'mon, I'll get you some hot chocolate and then we can get to talking."

On autopilot, Gemma took a step to follow her, but stumbled as the adrenaline pumping through her system left. Her arm shot out to catch on the wall, the other still holding Mudkip. When did it get there? She was about to dump it on the floor, but she took in how its head was burrowed in her shoulder, still shaking like a leaf, and decided that it would be too cruel to just dump it. Instead, she settled on a cushion on the floor and dropped it in her lap. This way, it could get ahold of itself without taking up her hands, and she didn't have to actually hold it anymore. The fact that she could also hardly walk may have played a bit of a role in her decision to sit as well.

"Here you go." Cara came back from the other room with a steaming mug of hot chocolate. Gemma took it from her, ignoring her trembling hands. A sip or five proved enough to calm her down from her shell-shocked state. "Sooo… I guess I should start off with my pokemon companions. I'm what's known as a 'night and day' trainer, meaning that I specialize in dark and psychic pokemon. They can have problems getting along, but really they're like siblings and love each other nonetheless. You already met Sable, my sableye. She's a bit overprotective since I took her from her native cave. She was being bullied something fierce you see, and I just couldn't leave her in that state. There's also Abby, my absol, whom I caught at Mt. Pyre. Then there's Celestia and Luna the solrock and lunatone. Sisters, you know? I just couldn't bear to break them up, Celestia was pining after her sister until I caught her. And of course, there's Perch my xatu. He was my starter when he was just a natu, but I couldn't ask for any better partner. Really, the starter pokemon is what makes a trainer. I assume since you chose a mudkip, you're pretty flexible and down-to-earth?"

"My what? No, Mudkip is just a placeholder. Really, I wanted a torchic, but it was already taken so I got stuck with this thing. The first chance I get, I'm trading for that torchic or even combuskin. I've always wanted something that could keep up with me on my journey."

"Really? I don't think I've ever heard of a trainer trading away their starter. Usually the bond grows so close that they can't bear to part with them. But, I guess if it's what you want, there's really nothing that I can do for you. Until then, I have a few tips for helping you train her. I may have specialized in dark and psychic, but I still know a lot of trainers that had very strong Pokemon. Do you have any questions?"

The rest of the night passed in a blur of information. It wasn't until well after midnight that Gemma finally got some sleep, but it was a worthwhile sacrifice to learn more about the Rangers and the opportunities with them, the different types of pokemon and the best way to handle them, and even the typical tourist attractions that every trainer just _had_ to see while they were in any specific city.

By the time she fell asleep, she was very happy that she had given up her first night on the route In exchange for that the information that she had learned. Not even the terror of the sableye at the beginning of the evening could counteract all the good that had happened afterwards. 'I should add her as a contact in my 'dex' was the last thought she had before falling in to slumber.

* * *

 **A/N: So there's chapter two for you. Sorry for getting it up so late, I had to go to class and wasn't able to get it up in time. A little bit more information on the world and how Gemma thinks. Again, I know that she seems like a brat now, but keep in mind that she's 13 when she starts her journey, and still a little bratty. I promise in the next couple of chapters she mellows out a bit.**

 **Next chapter will come up in a month, but I've got a pretty good buffer going so the schedule might change to every other week if I get my buffer up a little bit more. My muse has been pretty good so far, but the last few weeks flew by and I didn't write at all.**

 **Thanks so much to those who reviewed! I really appreciate your advice and interest in this story. I hope that you continue to enjoy the adventures of Gemma and Gilly in this little bout of silliness!**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

"Kip Kip!"

Alright, this was the third day in a row that Gemma was woken by that annoying Pokémon she had as a temporary partner. This had to end. _Now_.

She rolled over on the floor to grab the mudkip by the scruff of its neck and raised it to eye level. "Now look here you little shit" She growled. "I am not a morning person. I will never _be_ a morning person. So if you wake me again any time before 10 with your incessant calling, I will skin you so that I have a pair of mudkip boots. Is that understood?"

The mudkip wasn't in the least bit terrified and smiled in her face. Gemma dropped it on the floor with a huff. Hopefully she wouldn't have to make good on her threat. She did still need protection from the local pokémon after all.

"Oh good, you're awake!" Cara exclaimed. Maybe the fact that she had to cater to both 'day' and 'night' pokémon made her need much less sleep. "You know, now would be the perfect time to start your way on the Route. The nocturnal pokémon are asleep, and the diurnal pokémon haven't woken up yet. By the time they realize that you're in their territory, they'll have assumed that you were there already!"

Gemma hemmed and hawed, but eventually got up from the floor. Despite her laziness, she really did want to start her journey. She joined Cara out in front of the guard house, spying a xatu perched on a tree overhead.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye. You have my number in case you need any more help right?" Cara asked.

"Yes, and all the notes you insisted on writing down for me because you thought I would forget them" Gemma replied.

"Well then, I guess it's time to wish you good luck and send you on your way. And hey, if you happen to find any more dark or ghost pokémon, let me know. I need one more to make my team balanced."

Despite the small amount of time that she had spent with her, Gemma was actually sad to leave Cara. She had been a great help in figuring out the best way to join the Ranger ranks, and some of the tips for training pokémon would be a very useful.

With one final goodbye, Gemma and her mudkip turned away from the Ranger outpost and plunged into the forest, more than ready to start their journey.

* * *

The next week was quite different from what she was expecting given her previous experience with Routh 101, more commonly known as 'the beginner's Route'. The days passed in an endless stream of walking, battling, and more walking. Did she mention the walking? Every once in a while, the wild pokémon would try to attack Mudkip, but they must have been either more calm or more wary than those that resided in Route 101. There weren't nearly as many wild pokémon challenges.

The one thing that was new was an official pokémon trainer battle. She came across someone who was about 3 years younger than her and clearly not part of the regular trainer curriculum. He was about 9, and only had a zigzagoon to fight with. Before the battle, they actually bet on who would win the match with the expectation that whoever lost would hand over the money. To confirm that both parties could actually pay the winner, they compared their pokedex entries for the amount of money that they had on hand. Only then did the battle start.

Honestly, the match was very short-lived. Yeah, the youngster had a strong zigzagoon, but Mudkip had been training against that very pokémon for a while now and knew how it moved. It was easily able to evade any attacks that were sent its way, and jumped in at all the right moments to land a critical hit.

In the end, the youngster conceded defeat and drew out a potion to help heal his pokémon. Rarely did a battle on the route result in a faint. Both the challenger and the challenged realize that they needed their pokémon to continue to a pokecenter or healing place safely. The battles that actually caused pokémon to faint were held in the city where it was easy to revive the pokémon. The battle yesterday with the poochyena was unique in that both parties were willing to go until one or the other could no longer battle.

With her own monetary supplies bolstered by the win, Gemma continued on. Potions made a frequent appearance to keep Mudkip in top fighting shape, but a night's rest or a few berries from the nearby trees would achieve the same results. All the while, Gemma picked the berries she could from the trees, planting a seed whenever she did for the next traveler. She had learned in her classes that trees and berries were important resources for passing trainers, and was encouraged to give back to the land every time she harvested. Old habits really do die hard.

By the time she made her way to the last bit of Route 102, she had battled multiple trainers and won a net sum of money. There were quite a few trainers that bet more than she was willing to, making her realize that not just beginners traveled the paths. They were way above her level, betting a couple thousand pokedollars instead of the tens that she'd been dealing with. In those cases, she thanked them for their time and walked away with her mudkip by her side. They were too strong for a beginner like her to challenge. For now.

Every once in a while, she would see the tell-tale vest of the Rangers. They only talked to her once, letting her know that she was getting close to the wild part of the route and redirected her towards Petalburg. The routes weren't actually fenced in like the rainforest by Fortree, but it could still be dangerous to wander into the wilds that hadn't been touched by trainers and tamed enough so people could pass through safely.

The rest of her time was spent fighting back the local zigzagoon, wurmple, and occasional lotad or seedot. Any poochyena that dared to show their face was ruthlessly defeated. It seemed that mudkip held as much of a grudge against the canine pokémon as she did. Sometimes a trainer that was on her level would challenge her, and she would gladly test her pokémon's skills against theirs. She didn't always win, but she won often enough that she was no longer afraid of stocking up on medicine in the next town.

On the evening of their 7th day in the route, Gemma set up camp for her and her mudkip. All of the recent battles had proved to her that it was a strong pokémon in its own right and had earned a tiny bit of her grudging respect. She would have to be careful of any opponent with a mudkip or its evolutions in the future when she finally had her Amber.

Out of the nearby reeds, a ralts cautiously stepped forward. Gemma hadn't seen any on the route so far, but she still knew what it was as soon as she saw it. One of her dreams was to have a gallade on her team, so she knew what the pre-evolved forms were. Mudkip was intrigued by the new arrival. It didn't look like it wanted to challenge them, more like it was curious why they were there. It shuffled forward to Mudkip, bringing a soft arm up to its moth and ducking its head shyly. Gemma stopped watching it then. With how it was acting, and how timid it was, it had to be a girl. She had no place for a gardevoire on her team.

She turned back to her task: setting up the fire pit and making sure that her sleeping bag was secure. Mudkip, on the other hand, padded up to the ralts with a huge smile that forced its eyes closed. They sniffed around each other and conversed in that strange language pokémon speak. Gemma always wondered if pokémon could actually understand the sounds coming out or if it was all in the body language.

She turned back to the two pokémon. Mudkip was prancing around the ralts, who had the smallest of smiles on its face. "Alright, time to eat." She called to the mudkip.

It immediately stopped prancing and made a bee-line for her. She looked at it with a soft chuckle. If there was one thing she had come to appreciate, it was the speed at which it would come for food. She dished out a serving of the poke-chow that Nurse Joy had given to her and settled in to enjoy her own small meal of oran berries harvested from the surrounding trees.

"Ral…?"

"Hm?" Gemma looked up in confusion at the soft call. The ralts was standing a little further away, shuffling its feet and ducking its head. Over the sound of Mudkip chowing down, she could hear a quiet rumble of a hungry stomach. Gemma was surprised that it hadn't been chased off by Mudkip's exuberance. "Oh, uh, we really don't…well you see…that is…" She kept trying to come up with a reason why the ralts couldn't join in their meal, but its sad face was making it hard to come up with a lie.

She sighed. "Alright. I'll pull out another serving for you. I don't have another plate though, so you'll have to eat it off the ground. Sorry."

The ralts made its way to their place and sat between them, sitting a little closer to Mudkip. Gemma pulled out the dwindling bag of poke-chow and spilled a small amount in front of it. Dinner passed quietly as they all regarded each other. Gemma and Mudkip were both curious about their guest. None of the other wild pokémon had approached them, and then stuck around after their curiosity was satisfied. This could just be an attempt at a free meal, but it made no attempt to force its way into the meal before it was invited.

Likewise, the ralts was regarding its companions. It could feel their confusion at its behavior from the little horn on its head. It wanted them to go back to the warm feelings they had been feeling all day, so it turned to them and gave them a wide smile. It had first sensed the pair in the late morning, almost blazing with good feelings. Really it had no choice but to follow the feeling, coming across the end of a battle between the humans and their pokémon. This human had her determination and pride filling the air and the mudkip was the same with its gleeful happiness. The other human was not so happy as he handed over some sort of paper, going back to his seedot and poochyena to try and heal them a little.

The ralts had followed the two as they continued on their way, the human going back over the win. It could feel the pride flowing from her as she described a particularly impressive move against the seedot. Over time, this had ebbed until the only thing ralts could feel was a lingering satisfaction at the battle. The mudkip was a constant source of happiness, the feeling so strong and constant that ralts sometimes felt its body warming in response to the warm feelings. Ralts wanted to stay close to that feeling.

So when the human and the mudkip stopped for the night, it couldn't help but emerge and try to engage them. The mudkip was everything it could have wanted and more, excitement bubbling out at the thought of a new friend. Ralts welcomed it with open arms, enjoying the feeling. The human was a little disappointing. She was a little more complex with her feelings, but had an overall good vibe to her. Ralts would enjoy its time as their companion.

"Ral, ralts." It tried to convey something to the human, but she couldn't seem to understand. Frustrated, it looked around, spying one of those red and white containers most humans wore. It got up and dashed to the ball, laying a stubby arm on it and looking at the human. "Ralts."

Gemma looked at the ralts, baffled at what was happening. She had never heard of this before. A pokémon was _asking_ to be captured. She didn't particularly want a gardevoire on her team, but this was a free pokémon! She scrambled to look in her pockets, fingers ineffectively searching for a pokeball. There was none. She lunged for the bag, falling on her face in her haste to look through it. Even if she had no use for it on her team, she could always trade for another. There had to be a pokeball in her pack! There's no way she would have left without at least one!

Frantically, she pulled out every last item. Food, clothes, antidotes, potions, all made their way to the forest floor with a clatter. Had she bought some at Oldale? She thought back, and realized with horror that she hadn't. How could she have left without a trainer's most essential tool!? Her shoulders slumped as she turned back to the pokémon. "I'm so sorry, I don't have one." The ralts giggled into its stubby arms and touched her knee. Then it went back to eating its meal, sitting down pointedly.

Gemma stared at the ralts, hope flaring in her stomach. It wouldn't leave. It was going to wait. The ralts turned back to her and nodded as the hope turned to joy. The first thing she would do when they reached Petalburg was get a pokeball. Three in fact. She didn't want to get into this situation again, and she had a little leftover funds from the route.

She finished her meal in quiet contemplation and turned in for the night. Tomorrow, they would reach the town and she would get her second official Pokémon. She barely protested when Mudkip burrowed under her arm and the ralts settled down on her other side. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

The trio passed the Rangers booth a little past noon, officially entering Petalburg City. Gemma stopped at the map to find the fastest way to the pokemart. Normally she would have just stumbled around and taken in the sights, but she felt on edge with an unregistered pokémon following her. If anything were to happen, she would have no proof that it was hers. Recalling it into its pokeball would be the ultimate test of ownership, and registering the pokeball in her pokedex would ensure no one could just steal it.

They stumbled into the pokemart, quickly going to the balls section. She picked three off the shelf along with more potions and pokefood. This would eat up her funds even with the trainer discount, but they were essentials. Paying the cashier, they made their way outside. She didn't think the store would take kindly to having a pokémon caught inside. She bent down to the ralts, the pokeball in front of her. Eagerly, the ralts reached for it, having made its decision yesterday.

She nodded and tapped its little green head. A burst of red light enveloped the ralts before returning. The light on the front flashed once, twice, three times and went still. Gemma looked at her mudkip. Then broke into a smile. "We did it! We have another pokémon! Ha!" Her mudkip was also smiling brightly, happy that its trainer was so happy.

Before their celebration went on too long, Gemma registered the pokeball on her pokedex. All the data from the pokémon was automatically transferred to her machine and she scanned it. The power levels were a little weak, but then again it was caught on route 102. Ability to synchronize, growl as its only move (that would have to change), and…male!? But, that would mean that she could have her gallade!

She let out the ralts – _her_ ralts – and beamed down at it. "I have to come up with a name for you. You'll grow up to be a gallade one day, so it has to be strong. Formidable. Something worthy of a warrior."

Her head was filled with options, so she could be forgiven for missing the look that crossed ralts' face. He couldn't quite understand human yet, but he could understand the feelings she was giving off. The mudkip – Gilly she said her name was – noticed immediately and drew closer to him, asking what was wrong. He just shook his head, not wanting to put a damper on the happiness everyone was feeling. And how could he explain that he never wanted to be a gallade, but a gardevoire? Ever since his hatching he looked up to the beautiful pokémon. They were everything he wanted to be; graceful and kind, yet fierce and unafraid even in the face of dragons! As a part fairy type, he could also be unaffected by their fire. But if he became a gallade he would lose that immunity, lose that part of himself that made him so similar to his idols.

" _It's fine"_ he answered Gilly. " _I just wasn't expecting the pokeball to be so confining"_

Gilly just laughed, agreeing with his statement. " _But Gemma is good and lets us stay out all we want, so you don't have to go back in again if you don't want to."_

Gilly was sweet, really she was, but a little unobservant. With the problem seemingly settled, she turned back to their trainer Gemma. Ralts breathed a small sigh of relief when he felt her emotions returning to their default setting of happiness. He too turned back to their trainer, waiting for her to come back to them from her thoughts.

"Galahad!" Gemma exclaimed. She looked down at the little ralts at her feet. "You shall be named Galahad after the knight from old legends and fairy tales. He was known as the best knight of all, and I know you'll live up to that reputation. Galahad the gallade. Has a nice ring to it."

The newly named Galahad thought it over. ' _Galahad the gardevoire has a nice ring to it.'_ he thought. He looked up at his new trainer and nodded with a wide smile.

"Excellent!" Gemma crowed. "Now, let's get set up in the center so we can sleep in a bed for once. We can also get you two checked over before we head to the Gym to figure out the competition." With that, she turned to the red-roofed building just a little ways down. Both pokémon turned to follow her, ready for what the day would bring.

Both pokémon were fine, having gotten a good rest the night before. Still, Gemma wanted to make absolutely sure that both her pokémon were in top fighting form. She also took the opportunity to reserve a room for the night. There weren't that many people staying in this center, so it was no trouble and she dropped off her stuff in her room.

Once that was taken care of, the trio set off to search the city for the Gym. Luckily, it was fairly easy to find with the signs everywhere. A couple decades back, the Gym leader's daughter had become a local celebrity. Rumor was that she had single-handedly stopped a mass crime syndicate from destroying the equilibrium of land and sea. Then she faced down the Elite Four of the time to become champion, a feat that was not to be taken lightly. Finally, on the night of the Litleonid meteor shower, she called the legendary pokémon Rayquaza to her aid, flying into space and battling a being intent on destroying the world as we knew it.

Or so the rumors said. Honestly, Gemma thought that it was all a load of taurus shit. There was no way one person could have done all of that, especially the part about flying into space. It was more likely that tales of her meteoritic rise in the Elite Four were modified and added to until she became something larger than life.

Still, she came around to visit her father often enough, and the media caught on. Signs popped up around the Gym to help advertise the family and the leader's connection with the champion. Funnily enough, the family didn't seem to enjoy the publicity and the celebrity stepped down from her place as champion in an effort to remove herself from the public eye. It didn't work. The paparazzi were like circling mandibuzz, turning her simple desire for privacy into a scandal. Why wasn't she champion anymore? No one had been able to beat her, so no one else held the official title of Champion. Was she being forced away from the position? What kind of blackmail must they have on her to make her leave? Had she actually been a part of the crime syndicate she had helped defeat and this was all an elaborate cover up to bide time?

The questions got more ridiculous, and her pleas to stop instead fueled the fire. One day she had finally had enough and returned to the Elite Four, beating every opponent that stood in her path. When she reached the sitting champion, she defeated him easily. She re-took her title, stemming the flow of scandals. Her first act as champion was to erase the Elite Four and install a tournament in its place. It took its roots from the Indigo League. Every four years, a tournament was held to decide the new champion of Hoenn. A free for all consisting of any who had obtained eight badges, and overseen by the previous champion to find the new strongest trainer.

She only served for one round before 'handing the torch to the next generation' and returned to her family in Petalburg town. She still could be seen sometimes helping the new trainers and people lined up in the spectator's area to catch a glimpse of the legendary champion.

Hence, the signs pointing the way to the Gym.

She wound her way through the town for a while before stepping through the doors of the large Gym. An attendant standing by the pillars perked up when she walked in, his watery grey eyes stared at her behind wire-rim glasses. "Welcome! To the first gym on the circuit! This is the normal gym, where you will face normal-type pokémon. On each side of the room is a door with the specialization of the trainer inside. You will have to go through at least three different doors to get to the leader at the end. If you decide to leave the Gym after battling a trainer, you will not be allowed back in until the next day. Have no fear, your progress will be recorded and you can continue on the next day without having to fight the same person again."

Gemma already knew all this information from her time in school, but she felt no need to stop his explanation. Sometimes people would let things slip if they were allowed to keep talking.

"You shouldn't have any weaknesses to the normal types, but be careful as the trainers are experienced in using things to their advantage." The attendant gestured toward the doors and allowed her to pass.

She stepped up to first one door, then the other, looking at the plaques posted on them. 'Speed Room' 'Accuracy Room.' So one specialized in hitting correctly while the other one moved fast? It was a tough choice. On one hand, more speed would lose her the advantage of going first. On the other, more accuracy would allow more hits to land more often with no chance of escape. Speed it was then.

With a nod to herself, she opened the door and walked through.

"So." A voice called out as the door opened. "You decided to test your speed against mine. Heh heh. Alright. I'm Ace Trainer Randall, and I bet 120 that I'll beat you. What do you say?"

Ace Trainer Randall stood in the middle of the room, staring at Gemma expectantly. "Uh, well I just wanted to get an idea of what I'd be facing, I didn't think I'd actually have to fight someone. I'll just head back now."

Randall started shaking his head, green hair floating through the air. "Nope! No can do. You entered the room, you issued the challenge. You can't run away from a trainer battle!"

Gemma stared at him in horror. There was no way her Galahad and mudkip would be able to take on a trainer. Galahad didn't even know any attack moves!

She bolted back to the door, wrenching it open before dashing back into the lobby. The attendant looked up in surprise. She supposed he had never experienced someone lasting less than a minute in one of the rooms with all their pokémon conscious before. A loud banging came from the other side of the door, breaking the silence.

"Hey! C'mon, you can't just leave me hanging like that!" Randall was yelling through the door. "We didn't even get to battle!"

"I'll come back later! I didn't think that I'd actually have to fight someone beyond the door!" Gemma's back was pushed up against the wood, holding the door closed. "I promise I'll fight you later!"

"Miss…?" The attendant cautiously asked. "Am I correct in assuming that you did not accept the challenge from Randall?" He frowned at Gemma's nod. "Well then I'm sorry, but you must go in there and battle. You have two pokémon that are able to fight and by entering the room, you challenged the occupant."

Gemma felt herself gaping, but against that logic she couldn't come up with a good reason that would let her leave. Her shock must have allowed Randall to push open the door a little bit, because the next thing she knew, she was grabbed and hauled into the Speed Room.

The solid _thunk_ of the door closing behind her and the following _click_ of a lock sealed her fate. She would have to battle.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **So that's chapter 3! And y'all finally get to see the other major player in this fic, Galahad the ralts.**

 **Thank you to everyone who favorited and reviewed! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. And don't worry about me running out of steam, I have a few chapters as a buffer. This story isn't going anywhere.**

 **Next chapter goes up October 7. However, if you want to have a backstory into Gemma's reasoning and motives on why she's acting the way she is, that fic will go up in two weeks as its own thing.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

Randall was standing back in his place by the far wall when she turned to him. "Alright! Now that we have that out of the way and you no longer have cold feet, let's get this party started. Skittles, let's go!" He tossed out a pokeball, releasing a pink kitten with what looked like a cattail on its…well…tail.

"Skitty!" The pink cat called out, taking a ready stance for her opponent.

Gemma looked at her two pokemon. One of them would have to go out, and unfortunately Galahad didn't know any attack moves yet. "Alright Mudkip. I guess you're up." Her mudkip bounded forward. Even forced into a battle its trainer clearly didn't want, it still held onto its happiness. Gemma had to hand it to the little thing, it certainly was tenacious.

Over the loudspeakers, an announcer counted them off to the start of the battle. "Ready, GO!" And just like that, Randall threw out a pill to his skitty. She jumped up and swallowed it in mid-air, clearly having done this many times before. She shivered and moved a little quicker around the arena, the pill clearly taking effect.

Gemma gulped before steeling herself. Even if she didn't originally want this battle, she would give it her all. "Alright Mudkip, start off with a mud-slap!"

"Kip!" Mudkip tried to gather up some of the dust around it to create a large enough mud ball, but with how well-kept the gym was, the attack ended up being rather small. The skitty easily dodged the attack with its newly enhanced speed, letting the mud ball sail past her.

"Alright Skittles! Now let's show them why we have a need for speed. Tackle them into submission!"

The skitty rushed forward as soon as the attack was called, slamming into Mudkip's side. Mudkip stumbled a little, instinctively returning fire with a water gun. The skitty danced away, missing the brunt of the attack, but still managing to get damp. In her anger, she let out the most melodious song to ever grace Gemma's ears, lulling her into a drowsy stupor with how sweet and calming it was.

Gemma had to fight to keep her eyelids open until the song came to an end. When it did end, she shook herself to full awareness, taking in the damage. Her Galahad was asleep by her side, head pillowed in his stubby arms and chest slowly rising and falling. She stooped down to pick him up, trying to shake him awake.

"Skit!"

The shout drew her attention back to the battlefield where her mudkip was fast asleep on the floor and in the midst of taking an attack from the skitty. "Mudkip!" She called out, trying to wake her pokemon. If it stayed asleep, it had no way to defend against any attacks or dole out damage of its own. "You need to wake up! C'mon!" Even as her mudkip slept on, she didn't feel anything but concern. Galahad had succumbed to the devastating song, and even she had almost fallen prey to the sweet melody.

She continued to call out to the sleeping pokemon as the skitty came around again, tackling the sleeping mudkip and leaving a few bruises. Gemma had to find a way to wake up her pokemon before it fainted in its sleep. "Gilly? Wake up!" and finally it awoke. "Yes! Alright Gilly, let's show this stuffed up kitten who's boss!"

"Mud!" Mudkip let out a veritable torrent of water at the sskitty. It tried to bound away with its enhanced speed, but still got hit by the attack. Now sopping wet, the skitty came around for a final charge, slamming into the blue pokemon in a devastating attack.

Mudkip was thrown the length of the room, rolling and bouncing end over end. It came to a stop right by Gemma's feet and went still.

"G-Gilly?" she stared down at her pokemon, sure that it had fainted in that last critical hit.

"M-mu…" With a twitch, her mudkip responded to its name and struggled to rise. Gemma was in awe that this pokemon could be so devoted to her, even as injured as it had become. She looked across the arena to the skitty sitting primly and cleaning itself from all the water in its fur. Despite its soaked appearance, it didn't look nearly as beat up as her mudkip. If the battle went on much longer, all she would end up with was a fainted pokemon.

"Alright Skittles! Let's finish them off with a-"

"Gilly, return." The whoosh of a pokemon returning cut across Randall's instructions. Gemma looked up at the trainer. "I forfeit."

Randall stared hard at her before letting out a sigh. "Well, you did technically attempt to battle me, so I can't stop you. Skittles, return." The pink kitten disappeared in a flash of red. "Look, I know that you didn't want to battle in the first place, but considering the circumstances, you did very well." Gemma just grunted and handed over his prize money. It was her first gym battle and she had lost miserably. Not exactly the stunning victory she had always envisioned. And she couldn't even blame her mudkip for it. Randall sighed. "C'mon, let's get your pokemon taken care of. Once they heal up a bit, you can go train like you wanted."

Randall walked to the door and banged on it. "Oi! Kenny! We're all done in here, she can come out now!"

A soft _click_ sounded a few seconds later and the smiling face of Kenny the attendant filled the doorway. His smile faltered upon seeing Gemma's dejected look and the sleeping ralts still in her arms. Wordlessly, he stepped aside, letting Gemma walk into the lobby and out the Gym. Before the front door closed, she heard him wish her luck and he hoped to see her again.

* * *

That night, Gemma lay awake in the small room provided for her by the Pokemon Center. The gym battle earlier that day had been devastating, but not a complete surprise. She had, after all, wanted to back out of it as soon as the challenge was issued. She looked to her left, where her mudkip was sleeping. It had taken a beating in the battle and still fought on to the last, even when it was clinging onto consciousness and could barely move. As soon as she had called out its name, it had rallied and attempted to continue on.

And that was another thing. She hadn't failed to notice that every time she had called her mudkip by its name, it had gone above and beyond, as if to prove itself worthy of being named. And now that she had Galahad, having one named pokemon and one non-named pokemon would cause stares. Well, more stares than she had gotten when it was just her and mudkip. Gilly. Groudon, what a terrible name. So it may take a while for her to actually start thinking of her mudkip as 'Gilly,' but if that's what it took to make it improve quicker, then that's what she would do. It already knew quite a few moves, and was becoming more proficient in them as the journey went on. A few days training and it would be ready to take on that Gym again.

Her head turned to the other side, where Galahad rested. He would need a lot more work. Right now, he only knew one move, and that wouldn't be any help in actually defeating an opponent. She would need to train him up until he could at least deal some damage. She had no idea what to teach him next, or which direction to go. Her funds couldn't support a technical machine right now, and she needed him to level up relatively quickly. But how could she do that when he didn't have any way to attack?!

With a huff, she rolled over and closed her eyes. Tomorrow would be a new day, and they would go back to training.

* * *

Route 102 looked as idyllic as ever when the trio made their way back onto it. The three had risen early that morning and ate breakfast before telling the nurse that they would be heading out and vacating the room for the time being. Now they were back in the wilderness and ready to train.

Galahad was the focus for today, or he was until it became clear that no amount of cajoling would cause him to spontaneously learn a new move. Instead, he would come out and watch the battle as her mudkip practiced attacking. This way, he could gain experience by watching the battle without putting himself in danger. When they were just walking around aimlessly in the grass, he would try forming an attack on small clumps of bushes. He wasn't well suited for physical attacks since he was still so small, and his feet didn't allow him to move very fast, so they instead focused on special attacks. By the end of the third day, he had only managed to wave the bushes a little with a small wave of confusion.

Mudkip on the other hand, had learned how to foresee the moves of its opponents, making it easier to hit them if they were especially evasive. It was ready to go, and itching to get back to the Gym and face a real opponent instead of the pokemon on the route. In an effort to appease it, Gemma decided to go back to the Oldale side where the pond was. This way, it would be entertained while she focused on making Galahad stronger.

When they reached the pond, Mudkip – Gilly – jumped right in and started to chase the local pokemon. This time, they seemed much more wary of the energetic swimmer and stayed away. Instead of corralling the local pokemon like last time, Mudk – Gilly dove with them and swam alongside them.

Galahad had continued to try and hone his confusion on the way to the pond, but with no real results, Gemma didn't want to send him out to battle. However, today he had had enough and marched into the tall reeds by the pond, seeking out a challenge. Gemma tried to follow him, but his green head blended in pretty well with the tall grass. Only his pink horns allowed her to catch glimpses as he waded through the grass. She caught up to him just as he found a zigzagoon to fight. She rushed towards him with a cry of alarm, but before she could reach the two, he let loose a fully formed confusion at the pokemon, causing it to stagger and become confused. In its confusion, it hurt itself and decided that retreat was the better part of valor. In one move, Galahad proved to himself and to her that he was ready for the challenge.

They stayed the rest of the day by the lake, letting Mu– Gilly play and Galahad practice his new move. As the day wore on, the move became stronger and stronger as he got the hang of how to use this new power. When the day turned dusky, they ventured into Oldale to spend the night in a bed and get fixed up at the pokemon center. Potions and berries were great, but nothing beat getting completely refreshed at the center.

The trip back through Route 102 was quick and uneventful. Galahad and Gilly took turns fighting the pokemon that came forward in challenge, and Gemma had no desire to dally on the trail she had now traveled three times. Any trainers that challenged her were easily defeated, and she gained a little more pocket money she could use in Petalburg if she wanted.

By the time they walked back into Petalburg, she was confident in her Pokémon's ability to take on the Gym. The trio made their way back to the pokemon center for a good night's rest before heading to the Gym the next day. Gemma had thought about her previous performance and decided that pitting speed against speed was not the way to go. She lost the advantage to go first and the opponent could dodge out of any attacks with relative ease. Accuracy would be a better choice, and her mudkip could throw mud in their eyes to lower their accuracy anyway.

Still strategizing, she handed over her pokedex for the Nurse to check her trainer card and check her in. "Oh! Looks like you haven's accepted your monthly stipend yet" The Nurse commented. "You might want to do that before the next one comes out. They don't stack, and if you don't claim it, you lose it."

Gemma, broken out of her thoughts, stuttered a quick thank you before moving to one of the side terminals. She knew that every month she got a stipend of a couple thousand Pokedollars, but she still couldn't believe that she had forgotten about it. She flipped through her pokedex to the calendar section and set an alarm for herself so she wouldn't forget. There was nothing better than free money after all.

By the time she had accepted the stipend, the sky was turning a golden hue and it was too late to go to the gym and challenge the trainers within. She decided to wait until the next day to make sure her and her team were as rested and ready as they could be.

The next day found the trio standing before the Gym once again. The doors opened and after a brief look of excitement, Kenny the attendant waved them onto the first set of doors. She went with her strategy and walked into the accuracy room.

"Alright! Someone decided to test out their accuracy!" standing in the middle of the room was a young trainer with green hair. "I'm Maybelle and my Delilah and I are gonna wear you down!"

Maybelle released her pokemon, another skitty, into the arena. Gemma considered sending in Galahad for a moment, but the way her Gilly was staring down the skitty, she knew that it was itching for payback. "M- Gilly, head on out!"

Gilly bounded out onto the field, ready to take down the pink kitten. Once again the announcer started off the battle and Maybelle threw out a pill to her Delilah. The skitty jumped in the air and swallowed the pill, so much like Randall's Skittles that Gemma almost did a double-take. As the skitty landed, Gemma thought that its eyes could better track Gilly's movements. Better take care of that first.

"Gilly, you know what to do!" Gilly gathered together the surrounding dirt once again, supplementing the meager amount with the supply it had taken to carrying around in its mouth. This mud slap was much more accurate than the last time they were here and landed right in the skitty's eyes. It helped that it didn't have an extra boost to speed to dance out of the way.

The opposing Delilah let out a growl of anger and rushed at the mudkip, attempting to tackle it into submission. Unfortunately for it, Gilly had grown stronger and more resilient during its training and all the skitty got for its trouble was another mud blob, further obscuring its vision. The kitten danced away, putting distance between itself and Gilly and pawing at its face trying to clear the mud from its eyes.

"No!" Maybelle cried out. "C'mon Delilah, make them face the music!" The skitty stopped pawing at its face and opened its mouth, letting forth a beautiful song that filled the arena. Gemma knew what this meant, and covered Galahad's ears, fighting to resist the song's beautiful melody. When the music ended, she looked up to see her mudkip sleeping peacefully in the middle of the arena.

"Mudkip! Wake up! C'mon Gilly, fight through!"

Gilly startled awake, looking happier than ever, and let forth a powerful water gun at the skitty that was starting to rush over for an attack. The water gun forced the kitten off balance and turned what should have been a devastating hit into a glancing blow. The two battlers glared at each other, silent and waiting after the last round of hits. All of a sudden, the two rushed at each other with twin cries of determination and met in the middle.

Gilly collided with the kitten and kept right on going, gaining a few bruises in the process. The skitty on the other hand, was batted away, fur mussed and eyes in the tell-tale swirl of fainting.

"Delilah!" Maybelle called out. She fumbled for her pokeball and returned the pokemon. "It's ok Delilah, you did great." She then turned to Gemma. "Well, that's all there was from me. Your Gilly is a pretty good shot. Here's your prize money, and good luck with the next battle. You can either choose the Recovery Room or the Defense Room."

Gemma thought about it for a minute. Defense or recovery? That would mean she would need to either whittle down the opponent gradually, or strike quickly and decisively. Gilly was already injured, so Galahad would be going in for the challenge. He didn't have a lot of stamina still, but his confusion attacks and their ability to cause...well…confusion could decide the battle quickly.

"Recovery." She decided, and pushed open the door.

"Alright alright, I got a challenger that thinks they can recover faster than I can!" Another trainer stood at the end of the room, and Gemma was immediately drawn to his olive hair. What, did every trainer in this gym have the same genetic mutation to turn their hair green? "My name is George, and you don't stand a chance against me and my Ziggy."

He tossed out a pokeball, releasing a zigzagoon into the arena. Gemma grinned. A zigzagoon would be easy, her ralts had spent the last week training against them and knew how they moved. Even with whatever pill George would use, she was confident in Galahad's abilities.

"Alright Galahad, you got this!" Galahad shuffled onto the arena, stubby arm coming up to touch his face.

As soon as the announcer started off the battle, Gemma directed Galahad to attack, anticipating the other trainer's use of an item. So she was completely surprised when the zigzagoon rushed through the wave of confusion to tackle into Galahad. He took the hit with a slight stumble and shook his head at the white and brown pokemon, growling at it in anger. The effect turned out to be much cuter than intended, causing the zigzagoon to look back at its trainer, trying to convey that it didn't want to hurt something so adorable.

"C'mon Ziggy, don't let it get to you!"

Ziggy shook its head and prepared to attack Galahad, taking on another wave of confusion before hitting the psychic, this time much less hard than before.

After this second hit of confusion, Ziggy rushed back to its trainer, who pulled out an Oran berry and caused the pokemon to rejuvenate.

"Oh, that's just not fair!" Gemma cried out. "Galahad, cause some confusion over there!"

George chuckled at her outrage. "We never said you can't use items in these battles you know."

Galahad concentrated at the zigzagoon. He too was upset that part of his hard work had been erased. He let forth a huge surge of psychic energy at the scurrying pokemon. When it hit, the zigzagoon paused, and then shook its head. All of the psychic attacks must have finally taken its toll. Gemma was optimistic that the pokemon wouldn't be able to attack, but it somehow managed to stumble over to Galahad and rush him.

By this point, Galahad was scuffed and trembling with the effort of the battle. He really didn't have a lot of stamina to draw on, and Gemma shared a worried look with Gilly. She didn't want to draw him out of the battle, but if he got hit again, she would have to switch him out for her mudkip.

In a huge effort, Galahad let loose another wave of energy at the retreating zigzagoon. It was heading back to its trainer for another Oran berry. At the sight of his opponent once more being healed, Galahad mustered up all of his strength and sent forth another psychic attack. It hit the zigzagoon square in the side, causing it to stumble, but not fall.

The zigzagoon made another rush at Galahad and Gemma just _knew_ that she would have to switch him out after that attack hit. She reached for his pokeball for a quick recall when the zigzagoon jumped…straight into the ground. In its confusion, it had hurt itself! The zigzagoon flopped over, the tell-tale swirls of fainting in its eyes.

George sighed. "Aw man! I thought we had you." He recalled his pokemon. "Well, I guess you can move on to the One-hit-KO room now."

Gemma did not like the sound of that. "One-hit KO? Isn't there another option that I can go into?"

George thought about it. "Well, you could go back through the Defense room and then into the strength room before challenging Norman, but unless you have a few more pokemon hiding in your pocket, I wouldn't suggest it."

Gemma thought about it. Either Defense and Strength, or take her chances with the ominous sounding One-hit KO. Neither of her pokemon were in any shape to continue on and she didn't want to challenge the leader at anything less than her best, so it would take at least one more day for her to get through all the gym trainers.

She didn't have to decide right then, and George was very helpful in letting her know what she would have to face either way.

"Actually, I think I'm going to quit while I'm ahead and come back tomorrow. Thanks!" She picked up both her pokemon and walked back through the door and out the Gym.

So either a battle of attrition followed by another battle of attrition, or a battle that could knock out her pokemon in one hit. One hit KO's were usually either charged or had a rest period after, but if her pokemon couldn't take down the opponent in one hit either, then they were toast.

Then again, could both her pokemon go through a battle of attrition? She looked down at them, nestled in her arms and enjoying the rest after their battles. Technically they had both gone through long battles already, and that's not even counting their training trips. Ok, then how to go about it?

Defense would need a lot of attacks to wear down, whereas whoever faced Strength would need to weather a stronger beating. She considered sending in her mudkip for the Defense room, saving Galahad for the pokemon with fewer defenses, but another glance at her pokemon changed her mind. Gilly had done very well during its battle and was still pretty energetic. Galahad, on the other hand, was almost dozing in her arms. He wouldn't be able to stand up to stronger attacks.

And, wait…wasn't confusion considered a non-physical attack? Meaning that the pokemon's defenses had no bearing on the amount of damage taken? So Galahad would take the first battle in the Defense room and Gilly would take the second one against Strength. It could endure the barrage well enough and strike back when the time was right.

She spent the rest of the night strategizing about the upcoming battles, but by the time she was standing in front of the Gym the next day, she hadn't been able to come up with a better idea. Her pokemon were well rested and healed up after a night in the Pokemon center, and ready to prove their strength.

If Maybelle noticed she took a different room today, she didn't comment on it and soon Gemma found herself facing another girl with lime green hair. There was no way it was coincidence, the people here must have coordinated and died their hair.

"Welcome! I'm Lori and you'll be battling me today. You won't be able to break through McZagger's defenses easily."

Gemma ushered Galahad forward to face the newly released zigzagoon. Like the two skitty trainers, as soon as the announcer started the match, she threw a pill to her pokemon. When it swallowed it, Gemma couldn't help but think that it became more solidly planted, ready to withstand any physical attacks that came its way.

Good thing Galahad wasn't planning on physically attacking.

A well-placed confusion attack staggered the pokemon, and it looked a little more wary of the small psychic. Galahad was able to get in one more pulse before the zigzagoon rushed forward in a tackle, trying to take the little pokemon off balance. Galahad wasn't having any of it. He had already taken a beating just yesterday and was tired of getting hit. With a mighty effort, he disappeared…and reappeared a few feet away. McZagger was able to get in a glancing hit, but it was nowhere near as hard as Ziggy's hits yesterday.

"Galahad, you-you _teleported!_ " Gemma called out in surprise.

Galahad was amazed himself, but he could marvel at his new ability later. The battle wasn't over and there was still a crazy zigzagoon rushing at him.

Galahad managed to weather two more hits before his attacks finally brought down the other pokemon. As McZagger fell, he couldn't help but soak in the heady positive feelings bleeding off of Gemma and Gilly. He had experienced the intoxicating mix of pride and victorious happiness during his training, but yesterday against Ziggy was the first time it was so powerful. If he could feel this way after every hard-won trainer battle, he would take a million hits and get as strong as he needed to if only he could always make them feel this way.

"Well, looks like you were able to get _around_ McZagger's defenses" Lori said. "That's too bad; McZagger will definitely be itching for a rematch someday. Can you add me to your list of contacts? I'm sure he'd love to go up against you again."

Gemma was surprised that a gym trainer was asking to be put in her contacts, but then again, they were trainers just like she was right? They swapped information and Lori handed over the prize money before gesturing to the two doors on the wall.

"You have a choice. Either the One-hit KO Room, or the Strength Room. Good luck!"

Gemma already knew where she wanted to go and walked through the Room on the left. No reason to turn back now!

The battle with Jody in the Strength Room was short and harrowing. She used an X-attack to help her whismur "Boombox" hit harder. Her mudkip was able to push through the attacks and hit just as hard back until it emerged victorious on the arena.

At the end of it, Jody gracefully conceded defeat and pointed to the lone door at the other end of the room. "That's where our leader Norman is. Most trainers take a day to rest before fighting the leader, but if you want to continue on I can ring him up. It may take a few minutes though; he likes to hang out in the greenhouse with his pokemon when he doesn't have a battle scheduled."

Gemma politely declined. Both of her pokemon had just gone through two long hard battles, and she wanted to be at her best for the leader. She made her way back through the now familiar lobby and told Kenny that she would be back the next day to challenge Norman. He smiled at her and wished her luck before she left the Gym.

She wandered back to the pokemon center and dropped off both her pokemon for healing. Of course, now she had the whole day to kill and no idea what to do. Most of the last month or so had been entirely focused on training, but now that she was in town, she didn't really know what to do. It would be a little rude to barge into one of the numerous houses without permission, and most of the other attractions cost more money than she was willing to pay.

In the end, she found a spot at a local café and people watched. It amazed her that she could see so many different kinds of people and pokemon passing her in just one city. Nearly everyone these days went on a pokemon journey for a year or three, and had their partners following them around. Magneton followed the sweetest looking old lady, sometimes nudging her walker back into place with magnetism when it got out of alignment and vying for her attention. A few minutes later, a young boy full of energy darted into a throng of people, only to be lifted out of the crowd squealing and laughing as a Lunatone brought the child back to his parents. And just down the street, an old and graying Beautifly rested on the shoulders of a middle-aged man as he went about his day.

This was why everyone gladly payed into the trainer tax and donated so much money to the pokemon center and the Rangers. Everyone remembered their own journey and the joy of their partner pokemon still lingered long after the journey was completed.

She stayed at that café for the rest of the day, just watching the interactions of everyone and everything that passed her little table. When she returned to the pokemon center that evening, her pokemon were healthy and waiting for her to walk through the doors. She gathered them both in her arms, still feeling the residual peace of watching so many ex-trainers and their beloved pokemon. Galahad snuggled in closer as she walked up the stairs to her room. The next day, they would take on the Normal-type Gym leader, and they would win. She was sure of it.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **I'm so sorry this wasn't out yesterday, and also for not delivering on the one-shot about Gemma's background. I'm putting that one up today under the title "Gem From The Past".**

 **With Galahad around, You'll find that Gemma isn't as unbearable as before, she actually starts to call Gilly by her name.**

 **Next chapter goes up in a month on November 7** **th** **.**

 **Thanks for reading, I hope y'all are enjoying it!**


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

The morning sun shone down on Gemma and her pokemon, the huge building in front of her doing nothing to provide shade no matter how much she felt like it was looming over her.

She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. This would be her first Gym badge. She looked down at her pokemon. Her mudkip was practically vibrating with excitement at the challenge ahead, and even Galahad looked ready for the upcoming battle, his usual timidness gone.

They were ready.

She pushed open the doors of the Gym and walked up to Kenny the attendant.

"I'm ready to challenge Norman."

Kenny nodded and asked her to wait a minute while he called him. Norman already knew that she would be challenging him today, but she failed to schedule a time and he would need to get ready.

"Alright, you can go on in. Good luck!"

Gemma nodded and made the familiar route through the rooms. In each room, the trainer would wish her more luck against the leader and she felt her resolve harden. She _would_ get that badge today.

She stopped in Jody's room, took a deep breath, and opened the door into a spacious arena. Large windows allowed the morning sun to filter through the room and large puddles of light spilled over the tatami mat floor. All in all, the arena looked cozy and homey.

At the other end, just under the windows, Norman stood with his arms crossed. His face hadn't changed a bit from the pictures taken of him and his daughter decades ago, but his salt-and-pepper hair belied his age.

"So, are you ready for your first Gym leader battle?" He asked.

She smirked. "Ready enough to beat you!"

He chuckled at her exuberance. "Alright then. Ig, why don't we show this child how to ease back and enjoy life?"

He tossed out a pokeball and out popped a pink ball with huge eyes and a microphone in its stubby paw. "Puff!" the jigglypuff responded.

"Ha! You think your jigglypuff will be able to beat my mudkip?" She laughed. Said mudkip bounded onto the field.

The announcer counted them off, and the battle began.

Her mudkip bounded out of the way of a quick tackle by the jigglypuff. Gemma would have thought that with all the other item users in the Gym, Norman would have used some kind of status booster or something, so the immediate attack caught her off guard. The two pokemon danced around the arena, trading blows and anticipating moves. The most harrowing parts of the whole battle were when jigglypuff opened its mouth and began to sing. Or tried to at least.

As soon as the first note flowed from its mouth, her mudkip – her wonderful and amazing Gilly – did the most perfect mud slap right into the pink pokemon's mouth, cutting off the attack. The gagging and sputtering that the jigglypuff did after that move had Gemma howling with laughter on the floor. From then on, whenever the pokemon tried to sing, Gilly would move in to attack. Gemma got the feeling that her mudkip hated the sweet dulcet tones of the move 'sing' as much as she did. Usually the attack would miss and Gilly would be able to keep right on attacking, but sometimes the song would wind its way through the air and cause Gilly to succumb to slumber, allowing the jigglypuff a few rounds of free attacks on her pokemon.

The deciding factor was right after the jigglypuff tried to attack her mudkip while it was sleeping. Gilly woke up in just the nick of time and let forth a powerful water gun right in its face, blasting the pink pokemon away and causing swirls to swim in its eyes.

Norman looked pretty impressed by the win. "Alright, so maybe you do know when to take it easy and when to get to work. But can you go up against my slakoth Tebby?" Away went the jigglypuff, and out came a brown sloth-like pokemon that yawned as soon as it came out.

Gemma was unimpressed with the new challenger, and figured that this would be a good chance for Galahad to show off his moves. She called her mudkip away from the battle and ushered Galahad in. He gazed at the sloth and growled at the new challenger, warning it against attacking him.

Tebby just yawned at Galahad again, and he couldn't help but yawn back. He quickly shook himself out of the action and sent forth his single attack move. The slakoth didn't seem to be paying attention to its trainer and flopped on the ground, making Gemma grin. If his pokemon wouldn't even listen to him, this would be an easy win. "Alright Galahad, keep sending out those confusion blasts!" she called out

…

A faint snore filtered through the silence and she realized that her Galahad had settled down in the middle of the battle for a nap. Irritated, she started trying to wake up her pokemon to get back to the battle at hand. She cursed herself for not getting any berries or medicines that would instantly wake her pokemon up, she would have to wait for him to awaken naturally.

The slakoth had not spent the time idly by and was slowly making its way over to her ralts, taking a swipe at the sleeping pokemon and leaving scratches behind. She cringed, waiting for it to follow up on its attack on her helpless pokemon, but it flopped over next to her ralts and proceeded to play with some dust on the ground.

This was the most bizarre battle she'd had yet.

She shook her head and kept trying to call her pokemon awake, but it stayed stubbornly asleep. Tebby took another swipe, but Galahad didn't stir until it once again settled down next to the pokemon and started playing with his green hair. When Galahad did wake, he was so surprised at the close proximity of his opponent that he let out a large wave of confusion, fueled by his own adrenaline and confusion.

"Oh man, you should not have done that." Norman said. "Tebby really likes her down time, and you just ruined that." Tebby reared back to attack and Galahd attempted to move, but it turned out to be a feint. Moving quicker than it had through the whole battle, Tebby sucker punched Galahad with a dark energy, sending him flying. He got up and dusted off, letting out a ranged psychic attack at the sloth.

The psychic energy flew through the air, heading right for the still upright slakoth…and missed as it fell forward on its stomach, puffing out air to move the brown tuft on its head.

Gemma stared at the two pokemon. Her Galahad was scratched and tired, and this slakoth was hardly hurt, even though half the time he was loafing around! She turned incredulous eyes to Norman. He broke into a grin at her expression.

"Man, I _love_ it when trainers get to go up against Tebby! All you new trainers need to learn how to slow down, and she's just the one to show you how." He gazed fondly at his pokemon. "Just because you're in a hurry to get on the road doesn't mean you shouldn't take time to enjoy your journey. Sometimes, you need to learn how to…slack off," he grinned.

Her Ralts had let loose another confusion attack, but Tebby rode through it and rose up to deliver another scratch, but thought better of it and settled down, resting and somehow looking more refreshed than before.

Galahad growled in frustration. He had never had a battle last so long before and he just wanted to win so that he could feel that intoxicating mixture of pride and happiness from his trainer. Tebby didn't even dignify the growl with a twitch of her ears and kept right on daydreaming. He mustered up all the confusion and frustration this battle had caused him to feel and sent it at the resting pokemon. She twitched in anger and he realized that he had interrupted her rest time again.

Tebby dashed across the floor and delivered a punishing scratch to the small psychic. He fell to his arms and struggled to push himself up again, determined to finish the battle despite his dangerously low health.

"Galahad! Come back!" Gemma pulled the psychic from the battle and sent out her mudkip. The slakoth across the way wasn't paying attention and was entertaining a butterfly that had somehow made its way into the room and landed on its nose.

Her mudkip went out, a little battered and bruised but ready for what was to come. The slakoth moved in for another attack, but Gilly danced away, causing the scratch to glance off. Gilly followed up with a water gun to the face. Tebby didn't seem to mind at all and lay back down, trying to catch drops of water as they fell off her nose with her tongue. Gilly was about to attack, but remembered the swift retribution Galahad suffered for attacking during Tebby's off time.

Instead Gilly tracked Tebby's movements, trying to foresee where the pokemon would move next. As soon as she stopped trying to lick her nose, Gilly attacked with a tackle. The slakoth flew away, leaving a small scratch at her departure. Gilly followed up with another ranged water gun. This time, Tebby had to work to shake off the effects and her breathing was a little labored.

Norman started to look a little worried, telling his pokemon that she could take some time to rest if she wanted, but she started drawing little patterns in the puddles instead of resting. Gilly wanted to finish the battle right then, but Gemma insisted on waiting. As Tebby's last pattern was completed, Gilly let forth another spurt of water, and finally, _finally,_ the Slakoth slumped to the floor with swirls in her eyes.

Norman recalled his Tebby and gave her a proud smile. "Well, you learned my lesson at least, so you get the balance badge."

"Lesson?" Gemma asked. "What lesson? I beat you in a battle, that's why I was able to earn your badge."

"Yeah, you actually learned two. One was to learn when to attack, wait, or defend. The other was to learn from your opponent, really see how they respond to different situations and take advantage of that." He explained as he handed over the small pin. "You learned when Tebby would not tolerate being attacked and waited for the right time to strike."

She thought about it while she put the pin away in her badge case. "Yeah," she finally mused. "I guess you're right about that."

He waved her out, thanking her for the great battle and told her to heal up her pokemon. With his well-wishes in her ears, she walked back to the pokemon center.

She decided to stay in Petalburg City for at least another night to get her pokemon healed and to stock up on supplies. She dropped them off at the pokemon center and walked through the trainer section of the town to the pokemart.

The doors hissed open and she breathed in deep before grabbing a basket. Making the rounds around the store, she picked up antidotes, potions, and an awakening. The price of the whole thing made her wince, but with her monthly stipend and the prize money from the Gym bolstering her finances, she was able to pay and still have enough money left over to buy food for the remainder of the month. If she foraged a lot. And bought in bulk to get the discount.

She sighed. The stipend was a great system, but no way would she be able to support herself without another source of income in the long run.

The next stop was the grocery store for cheap food. By the time she left the store, she had enough non-perishable food to last her to Rustboro and a few days besides. With her full bag and significantly lighter purse, she made her way back to the pokemon center to pick up her companions before heading up to her room. Both her pokemon were tuckered out from the battle today and settled in quickly. Maybe another day of rest was in order before hitting the road again.

* * *

The next day was spent in a whirlwind of sightseeing and people watching. She decided that another night in a bed with free breakfast was a good idea. Besides, both her pokemon were unusually quiet when she woke up that morning. A good day's rest would do them well.

A large amount of the day was spent at the pond. It wasn't Gemma's original plan, but as soon as her mudkip spotted it, it dashed to the water and just would not leave, no matter how much Gemma called. Instead, she strolled around the pond with Galahad dogging her heels. Together, they watched Mudkip as it enjoyed the day in the water and played with some of the other trainer's water pokemon.

Galahad was unusually aggressive to other pokemon throughout the trip, often going up to any unattended pokemon and attempting to start a battle. It took all of Gemma's concentration to keep the small psychic from angering the other trainers or park-goers, and even then she sometimes had to pay a little bit of prize money for the "battles" her pokemon had started against much stronger pokemon. Like that swellow.

After the fifth mock battle Galahad attempted to start, she picked him up and held him up to her face. "What is with you today!?" She asked. "All day, you've been acting weird and attacking pokemon left right and center. This isn't like you at all!"

Galahad ducked his head in shame. "Ral…."

"I'm serious," she continued. "Normally I'd be all for a pokemon that is always itching for a battle, but not against opponents out of your league. And you've always been the timid one of the group. What are you doing going up against a gyarados of all things?"

Galahad kept his head bowed through her whole speech, and Gemma sighed when he didn't respond at all. "Am I going to be able to trust you to behave yourself while we're here? Or will I have to keep you in your pokeball until we get onto route 104?"

His head snapped up at that, and he frantically started shaking his head. While he was in his pokeball, he was deaf, dumb, and blind to what was happening outside.

Gemma stared hard at him before making a decision. "Good. No more attacking other trainer's pokemon unless they also want to battle. And definitely no attacking fully evolved pokemon. We're just not strong enough yet." Galahad slumped again at that statement, which did not go unnoticed by Gemma. "Hey, don't worry; we'll get you up to that level eventually. And then you'll be so strong that no one will want to cross us." He peeked up at her, and while he didn't seem completely back to normal, at least he wasn't super upset anymore.

She patted his hair and turned her attention back to the splashing mudkip. While they waited for the little monster to get tired, she let Galahad explore the surrounding bushes now that she was sure he wouldn't attack random pokemon.

A few hours later, she was approached by a dripping mudkip, its stomach rumbling loudly. It seemed it had finally gotten tired of frolicking in the water. She called Galahad over as well and beat a hasty retreat to prevent her mudkip from rallying and diving back in the water.

They visited the cheap café she found yesterday and she set herself up there to people watch again. When all three of them had eaten their fill, she wandered around the town, popping into various museums or stores to kill time and experience the city. By the time the stars started coming out and they were heading back to the pokecenter, she was happy to see that Galahad was no longer so aggressive and Gilly was once again obscenely happy.

The next day, they once more made their way through the city to Route 104. It was less of a hard beginning and more like a gradual change from apartments lining the road to spaced out houses, to a grass-lined road. On all the maps, the Route officially started at the city limits, but to all the trainers, the Route didn't start until the Ranger's station which was located 5 miles away from the city limits.

From her look at the map in the pokemon center, it would take them a little over half a week to get to the forest that led to Rustboro city. From there, they would have to make their way through Petalburg Woods to the other side of Route 104 before spending another few days on the road to get to the city. It was the time in the middle that was concerning to Gemma. The woods were notorious for being twisty labyrinths and getting trainers lost in them. She could spend anywhere from a few days to a month lost in the woods. It was the reason she had picked out so many supplies and drained her purse, it was better to be broke than dead.

She shook her head. No use thinking on it now, first she had to get there.

"Alright team, let's get going. Next stop: Rustburo!" Both her pokemon looked at her with identical faces of confusion. She let out a gusty sigh and deflated. "Yeah, I don't know what came over me either."

Galahad burrowed his face in his hands to stifle a giggle, relaying the gist to Gilly. When she got it, she smiled even wider at her trainer. His trainer was right though, they should get going to the next challenge. And this time, he would prove to them that he was a great asset in his own right.

The first day on the route was uneventful. The entire area was just packed dirt and open plains. taillow were hopping in the distance, but scattered when the trio got too close. As the day wore on, both her pokemon began to get more restless, looking for a way to burn off the extra energy. They were used to battling at least once a day, and this was going on their third day with no way to release the pent up energy. They resorted to prancing around each other and sniping each other with small ranged attacks.

Gemma considered putting a stop to it, but it was all in good fun, the equivalent of kids throwing bean bags at each other. The one time Gilly did get hurt from its own confusion, the entire group halted until it snapped out of it. From then on, both little monsters were a tad more careful in the strength of their attacks.

Twilight was falling when they came across a wide area of taller grass that occasionally rustled despite the lack of a breeze. Gemma took one look at it and decided to set up camp. She didn't know if there would be a clearing further in the area and she didn't fancy trying to sleep surrounded by hiding places for potential enemies.

It was a good thing she did. Even with the distance between her camp and the tall grass, curious pokemon wandered close to their camp all night. Galahad was invaluable in keeping them safe with his ability to feel their emotions as they got closer. Even so, the trio was tired and disheveled from the frequent late night interruptions. It wasn't even that the visitors were anything more than curious most of the time. That didn't mean that they were above stealing food or supplies from the campers, and all unwanted visitors had to be driven off with a vengeance lest they pilfer their supplies.

Both Gilly and Galahad were able to burn off any excess energy they could have possibly had that day. They were constantly harassed by zigzagoon and wurmple. Sometimes a wingull would be disturbed, but their water attacks just seemed to refresh Gilly and were quickly taken care of. taillow watched from the stalks, willing to let the group pass and rarely attacking unless directly confronted.

They stumbled out of the grass exhausted from the constant battles to see a shack in the distance. Each of them brightened up with the prospect of getting out of the elements even if only for a few hours. They rushed to the shack, eager to get further away from the tall grass.

On the way, Gemma smelled something that just screamed danger. She slowed as her head twisted and tilted, trying to place the fresh scent under the smell of salt that pervaded the air as soon as they left the grass. It wasn't a bad smell, but still alarms were ringing in her head and she couldn't figure out _why._

She came to a stop, closing her eyes to try and isolate the reason. A faint splash cleared everything up for her. It was the smell of water, salt water to be precise.

And her idiot mudkip had just jumped into the surf.

Gemma's eyes snapped open and she took off running. Behind the shack, she finally noticed what she hadn't before: the wide expanse of the ocean in every direction. She scanned the water and ground her teeth when she didn't see her pokemon. Her feet thudded on the dock, listening hard for the tell-tale splashes her mudkip made whenever in the water.

She searched the swirling eddies under the dock and saw her mudkip steadily making its way out to the open water. She called out to the pokemon, already knowing that it would be useless. It had never listened to her before, and this was a whole new area and type of water it had never experienced. She was seriously considering jumping in after it before it got too far out and tangled with an errant tentacruel when a small glow surrounded the little blue pokemon and lifted it out of the surf. Slowly, the struggling mudkip floated back to the dock in small fits and spurts.

Gemma had seen this happen before on the route, and she turned to Galahad. His arms were outstretched and a small frown marred the usually timid face. As she watched, his arms started to shake and his frown turned to a grimace from the strain of lifting the mudkip. By now, the mudkip had crossed a majority of the distance, still struggling to dive back into the ocean. She reached out her arms to her pokemon, and with a last shudder, the psychic energy popped and mudkip dropped into her arms.

She immediately gripped the struggling pokemon tight, not allowing it to dive back in the surf below.

"Stop it you little monster!" she growled. "I've not put in so much time and effort just so you can go and get yourself eaten by a sea monster bigger than you!" Still the mudkip struggled. "Gilly, stop it!" Slowly, the wiggles quieted and she opened her eyes. She did not loosen her hold, however. Just because it was still now did not mean she would lower her guard and allow it to spring back to the sea.

She turned to her other pokemon. Galahad was on his knees, bracing himself on the dock as he took in deep shuddering breaths. Carefully, she knelt down and scooped him onto her shoulder with one arm. He was almost unseated when her mudkip decided to take advantage of the position and leap into the water, but Gemma hooked her arm around its middle and stopped the motion. As an added measure, she bopped it lightly on the head. "Stop it. Galahad worked very hard to bring you back to me."

Her mudkip glanced over at the little psychic riding on her shoulder, hanging onto her hair and trying to even out his breathing. It ducked its head and went limp, trying to convey that it would no longer try to escape. For now.

Gemma breathed out a sigh and walked back from the end of the dock towards the shack. She almost wanted to just skip the shack and get as far from water as she could to prevent another incident. Almost.

She pushed open the door and peered inside.

"PELL!"

A huge yellow beak filled her vision for a second, pressing against her. The sudden pressure and surprise had her stumbling out of the shack and falling to the dock. Luckily, Galahad had a pretty good grip on her hair and she in turn had a good grip on her mudkip, so no one got hurt.

As suddenly as it had appeared, the pressure vanished, and she looked up in time to see a very upset pelliper fly back inside.

"Peeko! Wha-" A crash sounded from inside, drowning out the wails of the pelican-like pokemon. "Peeko, wait, I thought you'd be happy they were back early!" The wails kicked up a notch. Obviously this Peeko was upset about something.

A middle-aged man with close-cropped brown hair and a bushy mustache came to the door, scanning the horizon for a second between trying to calm down the distraught bird. Gemma gaped up at him. What the heck was going on!?

The man sighed and turned back to the pelliper, reaching out to stroke its feathers. "It's OK Peeko, we weren't expecting them back for another day." Out of the corner of his eye, she spotted Gemma, still frozen on the dock. "Ah, so here's why Peeko thought the young Mr. Briney was back." He reached down and helped her to her feet.

"Sorry about 'ol Peeko here. She was very excited when we heard the racket outside and thought Mr. Briney had returned from his trip to Dewford a day early."

"Yeah, well, we had an unexpected dip in the water by the docks" she stuttered out.

The man chuckled. "No worries. Water pokemon always want to go to water. Like calling to like and all that. Though you may have trouble if you want to take the boat. The journey takes about a week or two, and I know you trainers like to have your pokemon free to roam."

"The boat?" Well, that made sense. Why have a dock if you're not going to dock anything?

"Yeah, it goes to Dewford and Slateport. All you have to do is give us your boat voucher and you get a free ride to either one." She whipped up her pokedex, searching for the section with the electronic vouchers. "But, I'd hold off on going right now. Your mudkip is still pretty untrained and would probably get swept away and left behind if you let it go."

It was true. Even as she was scrolling through the screen, her mudkip was feebly struggling to get out of her arms and back in the water. It was fine for now, but how would she be able to hold onto it all the time? Her arms would quickly get tired and that wasn't even counting the time she would spend sleeping. Besides, all it would take was one lapse in concentration and her trading tool for a torchic would be swept away.

There was also the fact that she had just spent all her money on food to get to Rustboro, and though that food could also be used to get to Dewford, it was notorious for being a sandy, rocky island with not a lot of trees to forage. And then she would have to go _back_.

Add to that the fact that she would then have to challenge the leader of Dewford or else pay for two more boat rides. The league only gave you two boat vouchers, but it was up to you to use them wisely. Also, the leader of Rustboro was a rock type trainer. It would be much easier to use her mudkip to beat her than it would to use a torchic.

But she wanted to go to Slateport, dammit!

She growled in frustration and put her pokedex away, tightening her hold under her mudkip's arms as she did. "Yeah, you're probably right. I was just super excited to go to Slateport for the trading."

The man thought about it for a bit. "You know," he began, "Rustboro is a bustling town. You can probably find a pretty good trading district there if you're interested."

"Really!?" She leaned closer to the man. "So if I wanted to look into trading pokemon, for example, I could do it there?"

His arms shot up in front of him. "Woah there. What, are you wanting to be a breeder or something? Rustboro has a pretty good trading district, but the real heart of it is the Global Trading System in Slateport. Rustboro might have an offshoot, but it won't be electronic trading and might take a few weeks or so to complete the trade."

Gemma wilted. A few weeks? She couldn't afford to give up one of her two pokemon for a few weeks. Especially her strongest.

"But there might be someone willing to trade within the city itself."

Her spirits lifted again. An instant trade would be the best thing. No waiting and she could start training her new pokemon right away.

"That would be great!" She started to march off to Rustboro city when she was interrupted by a stomach grumbling.

The man laughed. "Why don't you join Peeko and I for a late lunch?"

And that was how she ended up with a pelliper for a table mate. Lunch was a rowdy affair. Her mudkip kept staring longingly at the sea through the window and Galahad kept nodding off, but their inaction was overshadowed by Peeko's exuberance. She kept stockpiling the food in her beak, and it was a guessing game if she would actually swallow the food or spit it up on an unsuspecting table guest. The man, Mat, was an excellent dodger and it was usually Gemma who ended up covered in food. She was tempted to take up his offer to stay in the temporary lodging they had for future travelers, but the unblinking stare of her mudkip made her want to get on the road and away from the water. She didn't trust it to not sneak off in the middle of the night for a swim.

The trio made good time to the next batch of tall grass, and they had just enough time to walk far enough away to not be disturbed by curious pokemon while they slept before night fell.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **And that's chapter 5! I will be honest, I'm very glad I have a buffer because this month I didn't do a lick of writing. Life kept getting in the way.**

 **Next up is the Petalburg Woods.**

 **Next chapter goes up in a month.**


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

Gemma looked up at the arch of trees leading into the forest. Oh, she could enter in at any point, but it was encouraged to enter at this particular spot. Not only was it easiest to get to, but it allowed the Rangers to keep an eye on the less experienced trainers and warn them if a rampaging pokémon was on the loose.

She checked into the ranger station and entered the cool damp of the forest. This forest was less twisty than others she'd heard about, but it was still a forest. There was a reason she had prepared for two weeks to get through it. And the worst part was they would have to take shifts at night to ward against the pokémon in the forest.

This wasn't like the plains where she could find a decent clearing to set up camp in. The trees were so thick they created a canopy, an endless twilight interspersed with shafts of sunlight that speared from gaps in the leaves. Grass grew wild under her feet and she almost ducked back out to wait for a partner to travel with. With how fertile the area was, the pokémon here would be much stronger than what she'd dealt with up to this point, and they could ambush from anywhere; the leaves above, the grass beneath, even the bushes that crushed in from every side.

But! She hadn't come this far just to turn tail at the first sign of danger. She forged on, her two pokémon trailing behind her.

The first day was a nightmare. They were set upon by so many wurmple that she thought she had stumbled upon a hidden nest. Her poor pokémon were exhausted from the continuous strain and they collapsed at the first seemingly clear area. They were allowed to rest for a little while Gemma healed them up, but then they had to continue on because the little silk spinners would start to crowd around them and attempt to cocoon them in string.

At the beginning, there were some young trainers hanging out by the entrance, but as they ventured deeper into the forest, the amount of trainers they saw dwindled. She couldn't really blame them for not wanting to go so far in the forest. By now she was so turned around she didn't even know how to get back to the entrance.

Nights were the worst. As she thought, they had to take shifts in order to keep their campsite safe from pokémon. Night fell swiftly in the forest, turning the entire area pitch black. They had entered the forest during the new moon, so they didn't even have the weak silver glow to light their way. They relied a lot on Galahad those nights.

These just made the days more harrowing. Their most common adversary were the wurmple, but they would sometimes stumble on their evolutions cocooned in silk. They quickly learned to differentiate between the aggressive cascoon and the demure silkoon. Cascoons stung.

But they were nothing compared to the shroomish. The little bulbous plants with legs could only be taken out by Galahad. If Gilly tried, they would suck all the health away in a moment, so he had to go out despite the fatigue that made his arms heavy and his mind sluggish.

She spent a lot of time drawing poison from their systems using a paste made of some berries they foraged and a bit of water.

They were usually able to find a good place to camp by the remnants of other campsites, but as the days passed they got more scattered and harder to find. Eventually she had to rely on her own decision making to find a good spot.

She made bad decisions more often than not.

They spent the better part of two weeks stumbling around the forest, resorting to running away from their foes as their overall health dropped. Finally, the trees started to thin and she allowed herself to feel a glimmer of hope that they were nearing the other side. That glimmer was crushed when she saw the thin chain fence barring her path. It was no higher than her hips and she could have easily climbed over it, but she knew what these fences were for. It meant that the Rangers did not patrol past this point. She was going wrong way.

She just stared at the metal fence for a good while, processing that fact. She was going the wrong way.

 _They would have to go back._

She rested her hand on the fence, letting it support her as she bowed beneath this fact. They had to go back. Her pokémon were exhausted as they were, and they would have to go through it again just to get back to the starting point. Even worse, she didn't even know where the starting point _was!_

At this rate, they would probably wander in circles until the native pokémon took them out. Some poor Ranger would probably stumble upon their remains and she would become another ghost story told around the fire.

…

 _The Rangers!_

She looked around as if one would magically appear in front of her, but then remembered she hadn't seen one for the past three days.

But if she could find one, she could get directions or help back to the entrance.

She turned around and picked up her pokémon. If they were going to find a Ranger, they needed to go now.

By some stroke of luck, they ran into one that very afternoon. It may have helped that she was making as much noise as she could by stomping on any stray branch and encouraging her two pokémon to make noise as well.

"You know, you might want to try being just a little bit quieter, especially this close to the border fence." A male voice rang out, cutting off her advance. "You'll just attract stronger pokémon that are pissed off that someone is trespassing in their territory."

The irritated drawl was the sweetest sound Gemma had ever heard, and she rushed toward the Ranger staring at her. "Thank goodness! I need you to take me back to the entrance."

Hazel eyes swept over her disheveled form, passing over the bruised and battered pokémon that followed her like psyducklings following their mother. "Sure. My patrol in the forest is just about done and I was heading back to the Ranger post anyway." Their relief that they would soon be out of the forest was palpable.

The trio followed their new guide through the trees, taking care not to trip over the roots sprawling across their path. In comparison, their guide barely payed attention as he glided effortlessly over the underbrush, even going so far as to call the Ranger station so he wouldn't get any last minute assignments. He finished his conversation and let out a piercing whistle.

From the trees came two flying bugs, moving in perfect symmetry but so different in appearance. One, a sleek black bug, looked like it could have moved much faster with its powerful wings propelling it forward, but for some reason it decided to match the speed of the tan pokémon that didn't so much as fly as float through the air, an ethereal halo floating above its head. Both the sleek ninjask and stiff shedinja settled on their trainer's shoulder, backs to the trailing trio.

Gemma quickly turned her head from the group. She had only gotten a glimpse, but the gaping hole in the shedinja's back seemed to yawn out at her and threaten oblivion if she continued to look at it. From the ground below, a small mound of dirt grew before a small bug pokémon erupted from the miniature mountain. The nincada scurried to the man and joined its brethren on his shoulder. When the whole gang was there, he turned back to her. "You coming?"

"Y-yeah." She stuttered. A slight pressure on her legs caused her to look down. Galahad was half hidden behind her and trembling, staring at the shedinja. His limbs shook as the oppressive feeling of something foreign pressed against hims, but nothing was there. A quick look showed Gilly slightly ahead as if to protect the small psychic from the pokémon, despite the slight tremble in its legs. She scooped both of them up and held them close, in part to try and calm them down, but also for her own comfort. The back of the shedinja was a scary sight to behold.

The ranger followed Gemma's line of sight. "Carol, Swift, why don't you two scout ahead and make sure nothing bothers us?" In a flash the ninjask was off his shoulder, waiting patiently for the stiff shedinja to follow it into the forest. When the two had disappeared into the foliage, he turned back to them. "Swift gets a bit upset when people stare at Carol like that. I'd rather have him focus on keeping the wild pokémon away than on you."

Gemma shivered at the thought of both the Shedinja and Ninjask teaming up against her. "Thanks," she replied.

The trip back to the Ranger station was mostly done in silence. There were a few moments of conversation where they exchanged names and talked of their pokémon, but they were few and far between. When they did make it to the Ranger's station, Gemma felt like banging her head against the wall. It was less than a day's walk away, and she had probably circled all around it before meeting the border fence.

Joe the Ranger saw her reaction and offered a rueful smile. "Yeah, we get that a lot from the lost trainers we pick up close to the station. C'mon, we can get you and your pokémon rested up for a bit before we send you back into the forest."

Gemma groaned, but followed him inside. They didn't have a fancy chancy like the pokecenters, but they did have a healing pod that would fix up most injuries a pokémon might have. Neither of her pokémon were in top fighting condition after so long in the forest, but she didn't think they were so bad off to merit a trip in the pod. Really they should be OK with a day or so of rest without any stress from looking over their shoulder for wild pokémon.

She mingled a little with the other people in the building, but most of them were either on duty or on a short break before going back into the forest. The few people she talked to both offered her advice and teased her about getting so lost in the forest, calling her headstrong and stubborn for not asking for advice in the woods. She didn't talk to them much after that. Her pokémon spent the time lounging in the windows and kept out of everyone's way for the most part, relaxing and reveling in the feeling of safety being surrounded by such strong pokémon brought.

As luck would have it, there was someone willing to help her through the forest. Apparently the flower shop on the other side of the forest also sold specific berries and a traveler named Jacob was hunting for a wacan berry for his personal garden. He was accompanied by a lombre and roselia named Lily and Briar who would help him keep the budding tree happy while he transplanted it back to his home. His other pokémon were back at his garden, working to keep things running while he went on this expedition.

They left the safety of the Ranger post on Gemma's third day, giving her and her pokémon enough time to mostly recuperate.

"So," Jacob ventured. "I'm guessing from the fact that you were having such trouble going through the forest that this is your first time through. Am I right?"

His words instantly rubbed Gemma the wrong way. "No."

He waited for her to elaborate, but when it was obvious that she wasn't going to continue that avenue of conversation, he sighed. "That came out wrong. I was just wondering if you were just starting your journey or not." He waited a bit, but she still didn't join in the conversation. That was OK with Jacob; he liked to talk and was willing to fill awkward silences with idle chatter. "I remember my first time through the Petalburg forest. Lily was my starter, you see. I come from a family of gardeners, so finding a little lotad in the lily garden was some kind of 'sign' for my parents. None of the other pokémon on the previous routes caught my eye, so it was just me and Lils in this huge forest-"

Gemma interrupted, "Does this story have a point? Want to brag about how easy it was for you to breeze through the forest your first time through?"

For once, his easy going smile faltered. "No. Actually it was the hardest thing in my journey, and I almost lost my little Lily more than once. I was only by chance that I ran into another trainer that could shelter us as we made it through the last bit of the forest."

Gemma felt a little sheepish. "Sorry," she groused out, "I guess I'm still a little mad that I couldn't get through it on my own."

"Hey, no problem! I know what that's like. Truth be told, that's what got me in trouble my first run through. I jumped the gun a little going in with just one Pokémon that couldn't just sweep the competition away and had weaknesses to practically everything that calls this forest home. Going in alone didn't help my chances either." His smile was back, happy to have drawn her into some sort of conversation.

"But the thing is," he continued, "you don't have to always go it alone. The whole world has gone through what you're going through, making the same or worse mistakes you will. Most everyone is willing to help out if you just ask."

His bright grin drew a small one from her in return. "Alright then, any tips on how to deal with poison types? Especially of the wurmple variety?"

He blinked in confusion. "Poison? They don't gain that type unless they evolve into dustox."

"Well they coulda' fooled me with how often they use poison sting on Galahad here."

He stared at the small psychic shuffling just a little bit ahead of them. "Wow, you must have really bad luck. Usually they just try to tackle their opponent into submission. Wait! We turn here."

He rounded around a tree Gemma had seen many times during her first foray into the forest, but the path that suddenly opened before her was completely new. "How did you know _that!?_ " She exclaimed.

"Hmm? Oh, everyone got tired of getting lost in the forest, so they started cutting symbols in the trees to let them know what the way was. Arrows to tell where the next landmark is, and a circle letting you know when you've reached it."

Gemma was dumbstruck. How could she have not noticed it before? Now that she knew what to look for, she saw the carvings everywhere on their path, leading them from one landmark to the next. The trail they followed was sometimes lost in the overgrowth of bushes, but if they followed the landmarks, they would eventually find it again. It was so clear in such a convoluted way, she was amazed she had ever gotten lost in the first place.

Jacob's company was surprisingly nice to have. They talked on their route through the forest, and the combination between all four of their pokémon kept all but the most tenacious Pokémon away. Those pitiful few were immediately blasted by Lily and Briar, and by the middle of their second day, they could hear pokémon scampering in a wide circle around them; curious and watchful, but wary of getting into that circle.

Now that the path was clear, they made good time wandering through the forest. On their third night, Jacob mentioned they were on the last leg of the trail. The carvings had become slightly more stylized, curving back towards the center at the edges to create a more closed off triangle rather than an open arrow. This slight change was apparently put in to stop lost trainers from retracing their steps if they got turned around.

The two settled in for their last night in the forest, trusting that their pokémon would keep any unwanted visitors out. Just as the last embers were dying in their campfire, a slow tan pokémon shuffled into the area, chasing motes of light in its slow way. The flickering glow of the campfire caught its attention, but the flashes of burning charcoal wafting up from the pit was what finally brought it closer.

Slowly, a long arm tipped with two sharp claws rose up, lightly poking each of the brief flashes of light before they winked out of existence. It gave a small chortle of amusement from its bright pink nose and settled in for the night, heedless of the sleeping pokémon and humans surrounding it.

The simple happiness of the slakoth woke Galahad from his slumber beside Gilly just because it was so out of place among the muted emotions sleeping brought. He rubbed his eyes, searching for the source of the happiness. Gilly, as always, was a constant well of happiness even in sleep. She snuffled a little, her blue fin twitching in response to whatever dream she was experiencing, but it was still the muted enjoyment of a good dream.

His trainer Gemma wasn't the source either. He only had to glance at her to know that. Humans were so complicated, and he was a little surprised at how complex her emotions were. His original expectation of always being surrounded by good emotions had crumbled in the face of her constantly shifting feelings. Her default was not so much happiness or contentment as determination, which was confusing to the little ralts.

He took a sweeping look at their companions, searching for someone awake when a flicker of movement caused him to snap back to the fire. There, a slakoth was splayed out contentedly on the ground, his eyes half lidded as a single arm waved in the air above the fire.

Galahad stiffened, remembering the last time he went up against a slakoth. He had been humiliated and could tell that his trainer was slightly disappointed in how it had turned out. In an attempt to prove himself, he had challenged any and every strong pokémon in the area, but that just backfired on him.

But now, he had the chance to take his revenge on the pokémon that defeated him and show Gemma that he was strong and didn't need to hide behind Gilly all the time. He felt again the humiliation he had endured in the fight and drew upon that feeling, wishing that he could just materialize in front of it and strike. Small dark tendrils rose up from Galahad, twisting and writhing as the anger grew. It grew until one small tendril brushed the small horn on top of his head.

He flinched, looking around for the feeling of _wrong_ that had just brushed up against him and was astounded to see a dark aura flickering away. He stared at his hand, astounded that he could even create something so _vile_. He continued to look at his hand, searching and watching for the aura to manifest again until a small snuffling sound from the slakoth drew his attention once again.

It seemed to have caught a flickering piece of ash in its claws and had brought the glowing ember close to its face to investigate. Its curiosity, so similar to Tebby from the gym brought all the dark feelings rushing back to the fore. This time, he could tell when the dark feelings manifested again, though the feeling was muted and far away as if he was detached from the whole situation. He felt again that desire to rush forward and strike, and suddenly he was there, right behind the slakoth. As if in a daze, he lashed out, the arm passing right through as if there was nothing there. Before he could blink, he was sneaking back across the ground to where he used to be, silent as a shadow.

Immediately, the slakoth went from happily content to vicious. It knew that it had just been attacked and turned to the nearest target and raised wicked talons with the intent to rend damage on its victim below. The peaceful fog Galahad was in shattered and he could suddenly feel the fear and terror his attack had caused when it screamed through the night in the middle of their campground.

He flinched as all the emotions crashed in at once and was immediately horrified by his actions and what they had caused. For just below the slakoth, Gemma was flailing in her sleep-addled state, not quite awake enough to get out of the way of the attack. In a panic, he reached out his ( _taintedwrongbad)_ hands and _pushed_. A wave of sweet, blessed, clean psychic energy burst through the air, colliding with the brown Pokémon and knocking it away.

It made to move forward again, trying to get back into the fray, but Galahad was ready now and continued to psychically push it away until it got bored and slunk away. With the danger past, the adrenaline faded away and he felt his arms drop to his side. Immediately, he was overcome by his fellow traveling pokémon, all asking what happened.

Sheepishly, he explained, glossing over the fact that he was the first one to let off an attack. With a shudder, he remembered the shadowy attack and how _tainted_ he felt after using it. What was even more terrifying was the detached feeling of fog that had blocked out even his sensing abilities. In that moment of detachment, he truly thought that it would be able to help him prove he was strong. But it wasn't the feeling of malice that had helped him at all. It was his own power used in protection for his friends.

After reassuring Lily and Briar enough to settle them down, Gemma came over to talk him. He tried to convey that it was actually his fault she was in danger in the first place, but couldn't put it into words she would understand. All he could do was try to impart his feelings to her. She just thought he was being humble and thanked him again for saving her. He didn't quite know what to feel as she walked away to pack up the camp. Since everyone was up anyway, they might as well get moving instead of waiting another hour for the deep night to give way to the endless twilight that persisted in the forest.

Galahad stared down at his hands, afraid and confused at what he had created in his desire to prove himself. What else would he have done if it had worked? What else would he still do if he didn't show improvement?

"You're not weak."

He looked up with a start. Gilly was staring at him intently, smile for once absent from her face. "Wha- what?" she stuttered. "Why would you think-"

"You're not. And you don't have to rely on powers that are your polar opposite," she continued.

"I didn't-"

"But you did!" she burst out. "I know everyone thinks I'm just a happy idiot, but I saw you after that gym. I know you were trying to prove yourself by challenging all the strongest pokémon you could find in Petalburg. But you don't have to prove _anything_. You're strong enough to keep me safe in this forest where everything is trying to kill me. And if you need help sometimes, that's not weakness. If you fail sometimes, that doesn't make you a failure."

Galahad stared slack-jawed at Gilly. He didn't think she'd ever had a deep thought in her head, nor had he thought she'd notice anything was amiss in their travels.

"You don't have to be something you're not because you think that's what we want. We want you because of _you_ " she continued. "You're not weak. You're just what we want."

She kept her eyes locked on his, willing him to understand her message. Finally, he nodded and a familiar smile made its way back on her face. "Great!" she chirped. "Now, do you think we'll be out soon? This grass is making me itchy. Oooh! Maybe we'll find a pond or stream somewhere!"

He followed behind her as she bounded and babbled about the rest of the trip, astounded at the rapid change in personality. Was the happy-go-lucky attitude just a mask? He focused on her, but all he could feel was joy and anticipation. Not a trick then. But he noticed when he focused on the emotions coming from Gilly, he was no longer harboring such a deep well of resentment and shame, and was more at peace with himself. He looked back at her and chuckled.

Gilly sure was a special one.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Oh. My. Gosh. This chapter was a BEAR to write. It took so long to write this and I kept re-writing it. I hope that you like it.**

 **Also, I have a one-shot all written up about Swift and Carol. It'll be up in about a week, called 'Diggers no More'. I wrote it to get past my writer's block.**

 **Next chapter goes up Jan 7.**


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